The Secrets of the Past
by CrossbySlipspace
Summary: Decades after the Great War, Earth found itself the center of an extremely rare slipspace rupture. After several probing expeditions by ONI scout drones, it was discovered that the portal led to the past. As a result, ONI made the decision to send five of their best men back in time to reduce the devastation of the Human-Covenant War.
1. Prologue

**A/N: After years of reading from this site, I have finally gathered both the courage and idea to create a fanfic of my own. In other words, this is my first time writing to this or any other fanfic site. I'll appreciate any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism to the story, which I know is far from perfect. With that being said, here's the first chapter, and please leave a comment about how you feel about it!**

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Preview

**_Spartan-103 Alpha Company_**

"Why am I considered MIA?" S-103 was utterly confused in regards to what he was seeing. "Also, what does me being listed as MIA have to do with the Shaw-Fujikawa engine?"

The ONI agent before him said nothing. Instead, S-103 found a holo-pad thrust under his nose.

"The holo-console should explain everything. Report at the designated location midnight tomorrow." Turning on his heel, the agent walked off briskly. Within seconds, he had been swallowed in the darkness. Even to 103's trained ears, the whirr of the engine was barely visible as the ONI officer drove off.

Sighing, the diminutive Spartan V slumped down onto his bunk. Disinterested eyes scanned through the mission briefing carelessly. He'd memorize all of the details anyway. He always did.

The sudden orders were nothing new for the UNSC Marine Corps' deadliest Spartan. Indeed, his reputation was well earned. In typical UNSC fashion, S-103 found himself thrown at an entire division with no backup for his first mission. Evidently, ONI felt that wiping out the entire Army Group instead of just the division did not match up to typical Spartan behavior. As a result, the number of missions had only increased. Within a month, he'd become the UNSC's personal nuke, devastating anything his superiors dropped him on.

"If only I hadn't run into that armored division during my extraction," S-103 sighed as he finished the last of the report. "I'd be just a normal Spartan in a regular Spartan team."

Then his brain finished processing what he'd been absentmindedly reading.

Slowly, he raised the holo-pad back to his eyes and began to re-read the information. This was not something he'd expected at all. The ONI agent had spoken the truth. Everything did make sense to him now. But did they really have to make him MIA for this? Couldn't they just give him a mission with a timeline of "indefinite"? Seriously. ONI had a terrible grasp on the meaning of "MIA" to a Spartan.


	2. The Arrival

**A/N: First chapter is out along with the preview, tell me what you think!**

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Ch 1: The Arrival

**_Spartan-103 Alpha Company_**

His clothing was uncomfortable. The thought was completely ridiculous, as he would be embarking on the greatest mission of his entire life within a few hours. Beside him, three other men stood at attention as well.

The click of the door caught the attention of everyone in the room. Slowly, a wheelchair rolled past the line of imposing Spartans, before turning and backing up into place at the end of the line. As the crippled man sat back, the ONI agent from yesterday stepped forwards, looking each man squarely in the eye.

"I assume everyone knows why they are here today." He didn't speak very loudly. He didn't have to, as everybody knew exactly how serious the situation was. "As you all know, the civilian press has been fixated on the localized Slipspace rupture detected above Earth last month. What they don't know, and what we do, is that that rupture is unique in its properties. As our probes have detected, the rupture leads to the past. How far in the past depends on the speed of the object travelling through. Currently, we've been able to land probes on Ancient India and Rome, although contact has been lost with the one over Central America just last hour. Within the hour, we will be pulling these probes back through the portal. However, this opportunity is too much for us to just ignore. That is why you are all gathered here. Throughout history, there have been several major instances which ONI command deems critical to the future of Humanity." The agent paused, looking at each man again. "Franklin, you shall be sent to the early eighteenth century with the objective of seeing the United Nations formed between all countries of the time."

The man in the wheelchair nodded, the fire in his eyes seemed to burn brighter than even some active Spartans.

"Connor, you are to insert yourself into the American Revolution. The systems and technologies developed by the United States must be present within the UNSC during its formation."

The next man in line nodded solemnly, accepting the mission without hesitation.

"Polo, your mission is in the era of exploration. You are to draw the empires together and encourage interactions between them. The faster humanity begins to collaborate, the sooner we can start progressing forward in technological advancements."

"Prometheus, you are to start the cycle of technological innovation for humanity. We shall send you as far back as we possibly can, and you are to guide the local population in the early technologies as soon as you land. Impart as much knowledge as you possibly can. The higher they start, the sooner we'll get into space."

As the last two men nodded, the agent turned to S-103, the last one in the line.

His mission would be different. Unlike the others, whose missions were to encourage the growth of the human race, his mission was to protect. He had a very specific set of targets that had been exposed to great danger their early lives. His final job would be to ensure their survival at any costs. If either one were to die, then the family line of Dr. Wallace Fujikawa would end, and the development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive would be delayed. With a mere two hundred years before the Human-Covenant War's beginning, any delay within the development of Slipspace travel would be a critical blow to humanity's ability to delay and destroy the Covenant.

"The two VIPs within your operation lived in the first half of the twentieth century. Your primary objective is to stop the SAO incident with whatever means you have available. If elimination of Akihiko is impossible, and the SAO incident proceeds according to history, you are to enter the death game and ensure the survival of Kirigaya Kazuto and Asuna Yuuki at any costs. Regardless of what else happens, they must survive. Being so close to the critical turning point in the human race, you have the least leeway for failure. If they die, Dr. Fujikawa will no longer exist, and humanity will be crippled by its inability to function in Slipspace when the Covenant invades."

At this, the agent opened 103's final briefing to questions.

"Why do we not just send an entire battlegroup of our best ships to the beginning of the Great War?" The question came from the man in the wheelchair, and S-103 had to recognize that it was a good one.

"As of right now, we are not sure of the true nature of the rupture. The energies required to transport an entire battlegroup could easily destabilize the rupture. Even if the operation were successful, the UNSC cannot gather enough men and materiel to provide substantial aid for the humans of the past without leaving the current Earth severely weakened." After a short pause for more questions, the agent continued, "As of right now, every one of you is now considered either missing or dead according to official UNSC logs. You are to drop in individually, and accomplish the mission you have been given. I do not have to tell any of you that failure is not an option for any one of these missions. If at any point, it becomes clear that you cannot continue, you are to release information, diagrams, anything to clue in later generations about the threat posed by the Covenant. Even prehistoric cave drawings of Covenant ships or Elites are better than nothing. If there are no more questions, you will have 15 minutes to prepare for your journey. Dismissed!"

**_Spartan-103 Alpha Company_**

Sitting within the cramped capsule, S-103 reflected upon the ethereal beauty of the pitch black disk before him. For the last fifteen minutes, he'd been approaching the rupture at a crawl compared to the speeds achieved in normal space travel. As his craft edged closer, he felt his vision blurring as the effects of Slipspace took hold. The last thing he saw in the current dimension was the spherical rip in space-time as the darkness finally took him. Dimly, a rumbling roar filled his ears as S-103 closed his eyes to his world for the last time in his life.


	3. Revelations

**A/N: Second chapter is out. Hope you enjoy!**

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Ch 2: Revelations

**_Unknown Individual, Japan, Earth_**

The first thing he saw was a blinding light. Where was he? Regardless of how much he tried, the world refused to come into focus for him. Even squinting was impossible for him. For the first time in his life, he felt weak, weaker than he had ever been in his life. Even drawing in a breath was an impossible task, and a piercing pain, almost like a bolt of plasma lingered on his belly. What was going on? Why could he not move? The fate of humanity hung on his shoulders!

Opening his mouth to ask what was going on; he was horrified when the only sound he could make was a high-pitched wail. Despite all his efforts to stop it, tears squeezed themselves out of his eyes, and his crying increased both in pitch and volume. Trying to at least get up and take in his surroundings, he found himself immobilized within a gigantic piece of cloth wrapped around him. Even if he hadn't been bound, he doubted his ability to even turn onto his side. He felt too damn weak.

Being stark naked didn't even bother him. It hadn't bothered him since he'd been "drafted" into the military at the age of five. He had more important things to worry about, there always were. Instead, he was bothered, no, terrified about the cloth restricting his motion. What if he came under attack? He'd be helpless if someone rolled a grenade beside him! Struggling didn't seem to do anything, as his limbs refused to even cooperate with his commands. Whatever drug they used, they must've used enough to wipe out an entire city. A Spartan was conditioned to survive and preform strenuous actions even when fully immersed in chlorine gas.

Unexpectedly, S-103 found himself exhausted with his struggling, and he soon found himself drifting off into an uneasy sleep. For the next few years, he would only wake up in short bursts. Mainly, he spent his days reliving his final orders in a seemingly eternal sleep.

**_Kirigaya Kazuto, Japan, Earth_**

With the mind of a 22 year old Spartan supersoldier, the world always seemed distant to Kirigaya Kazuto. However, if you asked his teachers, he appeared to be a model student. He would come to school precisely five minutes before class every day, and sit down in his assigned desk. He would prepare his materials in exactly the same way, and took wonderful notes. He was highly intelligent, capable of answering the most difficult of questions. The moment the bell rang for lunch, he would get up, go off by himself, and immerse himself in books while absentmindedly chewing on a piece of bread. Precisely five minutes before the lunch period ended, he would return and sit in his desk. He excelled in athletics, frequently outperforming all of his peers. After school, he would walk back home by himself, once again immersed within his books.

However, those close to him would not agree with Kazuto's teachers. Even his adoptive mother and sister would agree that Kazuto was always distant. He performed required tasks robotically, methodically, without any expression of emotion. He hadn't even cried at his parents' funerals. He had just stared at the coffins stoically as they were lowered into the ground. That evening, his aunt had found himself reading quietly in the room she had given him. The only signs of life came from his activities. In kendo, he would throw everything into the duel. His brow would furrow into a sign of intense concentration, and his strikes would even outpace some professional duelists. In fact, until the day he quit, Kendo seemed to be the only thing that would get him to show the slightest bit of emotion.

His new family was suitably alarmed when Kazuto had suddenly quit without any apparent reason. When they questioned his decision, Kazuto had merely looked at them before replying in his standard manner: "Kendo is boring; there is no challenge in beating a snot-nosed kid over and over again." They'd taken him to five different psychiatrists across Japan, only to receive the same diagnosis: "Kazuto is a normal child. Despite being slightly above average in his intelligence, his mind is that of a completely normal child." Up to the current time, Kazuto's family had felt that the diagnosis was never quite correct. There had to be a reason for Kazuto to suddenly quit the one sport that had been his life previously.

In fact, the reason was up in his room at the moment, as his computer whirred quietly while Kazuto lay on his bed with a blue helmet on his head. Kazuto had never been interested in kendo. He had only gone through the motions to prepare himself for his true objective.

Memorizing the date of the NerveGear's first release, Kazuto had made sure to quit a year and a half before any mention of the NerveGear had reached the public. It would not do to have any parallels drawn between kendo and the system which would be critical to his success in the future.

From the day that he could gather his mind together to realize his identity, Kazuto had been horrified to realize that he was one of the targets he had to protect. Such a complication had entirely screwed up his plan of action for the SAO incident. Most importantly, he could no longer simply crash his pod into Akihiko's lab and shoot the man. In fact, he couldn't even get within five meters of a gun. Thus, unable to accomplish his initial plan, Kazuto did what he had always done when he had been Spartan-103. He adapted.

Was he too weak to even swing a long stick over his head, let alone handle the recoil of a .30 caliber assault rifle? He trained in secret until he could easily bend the steel leg of the table to a right angle and back. His adoptive family had never noticed the tiny kink in the leg furthest away from the door.

Was he unable to even swing a kitchen knife without nearly poking his own eyes out? He trained diligently in kendo until he had passed the level of most professional players.

Kazuto wished that he could explain his situation to his adoptive family. They did not deserve to be worried as they were about his sanity and mental health. However, first and foremost, they were civilians, and would never understand the desperation of humanity during the darkest days of the Human-Covenant War. Thus, in order to have his plans spoiled by being thrown into a mental institution, he had patiently dodged the psychoanalysts' tests and been confirmed "normal" by several of Japan's most famous doctors. That at least, seemed to give his adoptive family some assurance.

Now, just like the Kazuto of his history, he had turned on the Beta Test of SAO for the first time. However, possibly unlike the Kazuto of his original time, he knew that the next month could possibly be the difference between the survival of humanity and its ultimate demise at the hands of the Covenant. Now was the time to practice, to drill in game mechanics until he could recite every calculation in the blink of an eye, to find all and any exploits he could without alerting the developers. Without the death system in play, the beta test would be his training ground until the actual operation just a few months down the road. For the next month, he would eat, breathe, and sleep SAO.

His homework had always been the bare minimum to stay above average, but now they became even scarcer. The books he had been reading previously now concealed his notes about the future death game. He seldom paid attention anymore in classes, though his outward appearance remained the same. Instead, his mind was constantly running drills and simulations of different scenarios of SAO. He had no use for sines and cosines anyway. Even if he did, he had already been trained in them approximately five centuries in the future.

Instead, his mind was devoted to the Death Game, memorizing time tables, quests, locations, positions, spawns, and a thousand other things that were seemingly pointless. The fate of humanity rested upon his ability to be able to act upon his knowledge in the future.

And his teachers had always insisted that computer games were useless in the real world. Little did they know that the very future of their descendants would rest upon the timing of seventy-five bosses within a single virtual reality game.

**_Kirigaya Kazuto, Japan, Earth_**

For the first time in a month, Kazuto's computer whirred to life. Going over everything he knew about the death game one last time, Kazuto carefully shredded his notes and disposed of them down the garbage disposal. Taking his carefully prepared explanation and diagrams of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Slipspace Drive and placing them in a drawer for his adoptive family in the case of his death, Kazuto gave one last glance at his room.

His custom-built computer had been freshly upgraded and wiped just the day before. After installing custom UNSC-era security software onto it, Kazuto had once again placed a detailed diagram and explanation of the Shaw-Fujikawa Drive. In addition, Kazuto's computer contained a detailed timeline of the events leading up to and during the Human-Covenant War as well as a description of the augmentations critical to the SPARTAN Project. A coded star chart marking the locations of each Halo Ring was also included, though it was encoded in a way where the information would only become available when the time is right. A secondary, backup drive was also placed in a drawer. In the event of his death, his primitive home-made "dumb" AI would forcibly upload the information into the systems of thousands of specified universities and military sites across the world in multiple different languages. Hopefully one would pick up the message and recreate the technologies that would become essential to the survival of the human race. The devastation of wars using these technologies was acceptable as long as Humanity was prepared for the ultimate threat of the Covenant and the Flood.

Confirming that everything was settled, and that his reports were in a place where his family could find them, Kazuto set the NerveGear solidly on his head and sunk down onto his bed. Closing his eyes, he uttered the phrase that would change his life, and the lives of generations after him. "Link Start!"

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**A/N: Just in case it wasn't clear, S-103 was born into the body of Kirito. It might be a bit confusing at first, but I promise that everything will become clearer later.**


	4. Death Game

**A/N: Hello all! Chapter 3 is the start of the actual story-line of SAO. Canon will be followed to a slight degree for the first few chapters. Hope you all enjoy it, and constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

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Ch 3: Death Game

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1_**

Bright colors flashed before his eyes, as the system completed the synchronization of his body with the game. With a few keystrokes, not unlike the system used by his MJOLNIR Mk. VII's HUD, Kirito entered his username and found the screen fading to black.

In a bright flash of polygons, he found himself once again standing in the world that he would live and die by for the next few years. Momentarily, Kirito felt doubt enter his mind. What if the Akihiko of this world had just created a normal, if revolutionary game? What if all his preparation had been for nothing?

A quick flick of his fingers confirmed what he'd been expecting. The Log Out button was greyed out, and extraction from the game was impossible. Suppressing a sigh of relief, Kirito made his way to the surrounding fields to begin farming. He had a few hours before the beginning of the actual event, and he might as well take advantage of it.

"Hey!"

A shout brought Kirito to a halt, and he turned to identify the person who was shouting.

A man with bright red hair stopped in front of him, doubled over and panting. "Hey, you seem like someone who knows what they're doing, would you mind giving a newbie some tips?"

Kirito hesitated, a minute spent teaching a newbie the mechanics was a minute lost. However, he felt extremely sorry for the man who would be fighting for his life in a few hours. Reasoning that having an extra competent player meant less work protecting Asuna in the later levels, Kirito gestured towards the spawn fields. "Sure, why not? You can ignore the tutorial quest, it doesn't provide much use or rewards anyway. I'll teach you the basics to the game."

"Thank you very much!" The man with pink hair bowed deeply to Kirito, greatly embarrassing the young ex-Spartan.

"W-What are you doing? Get up and start towards the field or all the good spots will be gone!" Unwilling to waste any more time than he already had, Kirito turned on his heels and continued his sprint. "Keep up if you want any instruction!" he called over his shoulder.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1. Death Game ETA 2 hours_**

"O-Ow!" Kirito's new companion, Klein, rolled on the ground holding his crotch in pain as a raging boar grunted angrily at him.

"Oh relax; you can't actually feel pain in this game." Kirito muttered as he aimed his rock at the enraged mob. If Klein didn't want it, then there was no point in letting free XP to go to waste. Even a single point could mean the difference between life and death in this game. With a casual flick of his wrist, Kirito sent the stone speeding at the boar. At the same time, Klein stood up, realizing that he in fact, did not feel any pain in his nether regions.

"Hey! You're righ–urggh!"

Unfortunately for Klein, he managed to intercept the rock at the exact moment it flew over his head on its path into the boar. Kirito's marker flashed orange before fading back to green as the stone sent Klein tumbling back again.

"Not you too!" Klein complained as he dragged himself back up. "I already have enough trouble with these!" Indeed, his health was already approaching the red from the Boar's power attack and Kirito's stone.

Sighing, Kirito began to explain the mechanics of Sword Skills to the samurai wannabe again. "SAO's combat system is based entirely on your stance. Hold the correct position for a few moments, and the game will do the rest for you. Later in the game, you're going to want to use your own attacks, as the delays imposed by the Skills system can easily be fatal. However, you should use them right now as a tutorial for how to use your sword in late-game battles. Just don't become too reliant on them, as they can easily be your downfall."

To demonstrate, Kirito raised his short sword to his shoulder and froze for an instant. The next, he flashed across the distance separating him and the boar, bringing the sword down in a devastating strike against the back of the neck. The mob squealed in pain before bursting into sparks. Undeterred, Kirito continued his explanation, "Unlike other RPGs, critical hits aren't distributed randomly. You will only score a critical when you hit a specific point on mobs. Different critical areas give you different multipliers, which are multiplied to your sword's basic Critical stat. This system becomes even more important mid to late game as you become more dependent on your sword's mass, speed, and sharpness to deal damage, as opposed to the Sword Skills system." In demonstration, Kirito brought his sword up and stamped his foot down, pressing the sword forward in a classical lunge straight into the boar's side. Casually, he backed up, letting Klein take note of the pitiful sliver of health that the strike had managed to take off. Parrying the boar's tusk with a careless ease, Kirito repeated his actions. However, this time his strike landed straight in the boar's eye, taking the mob's health from 99.5% straight to 0% with a single strike.

Nodding knowledgably, Klein tried to imitate Kirito's initial stance with his blade over his shoulder. Freezing for an instant, he lunged forward in a perfect downwards strike at an imaginary enemy. Unfortunately for Klein, he misjudged the speed and ended up in an undignified heap on the ground as he became disoriented and unbalanced. Getting up, Klein sheepishly rubbed his head. "Ha ha, I guess I still have to get used to the system eh?"

Smiling slightly, Kirito flicked a pebble at another boar, enraging the mob. Deflecting it into Klein, he replied, "Well, no time like the present to get started right?"

Grinning in turn, Klein once again held his stance, and lunged at the boar. This time, his strike landed almost perfectly, bisecting the boar in a near perfect Vertical.

In spite of himself, Kirito was impressed. Once he got used to the system, Klein learned quickly. Turning onto the next boar with Klein beside him, Kirito tried to ignore the realization that he was having fun in the death game. It would not do to get attached to people who could die any moment in a few moments.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1. Death Game ETA 5 minutes_**

With five minutes left until the death game started, Kirito called a stop to their grind. Enjoying his last moments of peace were essential for the experienced ex-Spartan. From that moment on, they would be fighting a war for several years without knowing about their next reprieve. The five minutes of peace he had left were best spent simply enjoying the beauty of the world around him.

Grinning, Klein agreed with him, stating that he needed to log off for his dinner anyway. Closing his eyes, Kirito prepared for the exclamation that would inevitably come when Klein discovered the lack of a log-out button.

"W-What is going on?!" Klein shouted as he discovered the distinct lack of a way to leave the game. "Where's the log-out button?"

Feigning impatience, Kirito got up and walked behind him. "What do you mean? It should be right her–" He paused as he feigned confusion, his finger hovering above where Klein's greyed Log Out button was.

"See? The log out button doesn't work! How am I supposed to get my pizza and ginger ale?!" Klein panicked, trying increasingly ridiculous ways in his attempt to leave the game.

Kirito ignored the ridiculous sight of Klein attempting to do a half-tap dance, half-jumping routine to get the attention of a GM. Instead, he buried himself in his own menu, pretending to examine the dysfunctional Log Out button. In reality, his eyes were fixed on the in-game clock.

5:58, 5:59, 6:00. The instant the clock turned 6; his vision went white as the entire server of 10,000 people was forcibly teleported to the central square.

"What's going on?"

"Is this about the broken log-out?"

Whispers filled the square as everyone hesitantly waited for the announcement. Meanwhile, Kirito tensed. His blood began to boil and his eyesight sharpened. This was it. This entire lifetime had led to this moment in time. His decade of preparation for the death game would be put to the ultimate test in the next few years.

Meanwhile, as Kirito was in his pseudo-Spartan mode, a red dome had covered the central square, preventing exit to the surrounding area. Slowly, A substance similar to blood leaked out of the cracks, pooling together in the air to form a gigantic hooded figure.

"A GM?"

"What's with the creepy entrance?"

Uneasy whispers once again filled the air as the players finally began to realize that something was not quite right with the game.

"Greetings, traders, smiths, crafters, gatherers. Most importantly, greetings to those which will form the backbone of this game for the next few years! Greetings to you all Swordsmen! Welcome to the World of Aincrad! Welcome to My world!"

The figure spread its arms out in a welcoming gesture. Personally, Kirito felt that it was anything but welcoming.

"Now, many of you may have realized the absence of a log out button in your menus." The figure paused, opening his own menu and confirming what most of Aincrad knew already.

Kirito on the other hand, narrowed his eyes. _A menu! That means that the hooded figure is an actual player, possibly Akihiko himself! I'll have to keep an eye out for any suspicious persons within the game. Eliminate him and it'll be mission complete; the game is set to end when Akihiko dies._ His hands tightened on his blade. _Not now_. He thought, _he'll more than likely have some form of invincibility or barrier to prevent anybody from directly attacking him right now. No need to make myself stand out._

"This is not a defect in SAO. I repeat, this is not a defect. I consider this the ultimate feature of the latest generation game. From the moment you connected, you were stuck in my world. The only way to leave is to defeat all 100 floor bosses and clear the game. Then, and only then, will you be released back into the real world."

Cries of outrage and protest rose from the crowd below him.

Ignoring the cries, the hooded figure continued with a speech. "Should attempts be made on the outside to manually remove you from the game, the helmet shall send a powerful electromagnetic pulse through your brain, instantly killing anyone wearing that particular helmet. Unfortunately, my warnings have been disregarded, and two hundred of our fellow players are no longer with us." To prove his point, media coverage of the fallout of Akihiko's actions were displayed to everyone in the square. "At this point, the media should have had enough coverage to warn everyone of the dangers of removing the NerveGear. Thus, you can all rest easy and focus on clearing the game. However! As of this moment, the respawn feature of the game has been disabled. From this moment on, should your health bar hit zero, you will die permanently, and your avatar will be permanently removed from the game files. At the same time, so too, will your body in the real world. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have personally provided a gift to each and every one of you."

Finishing his speech, a white light filled the square causing startled exclamations of fear from the stunned crowd. When the light died down, unfamiliar faces filled the square.

Glancing at the mirror which had suddenly materialized in his hand, Kirito just had the time to confirm his suspicions before it shattered into a million polygons, disappearing from the game's coding forever.

Speaking over the stunned silence, Kayaba Akihiko gave his final word of advice to the whole of Aincrad. "That concludes the tutorial section. Good luck with clearing all 100 floors, and have fun doing so! Everyone! Welcome to Sword Art Online!"

With those parting words, the model shattered along with the dome, leaving behind only a beautiful, blood-red sunset.

"N-Nooo!" A scream ripped through the crowd. Acting like a switch, cries of terror filled the area as groups of people began to stream out of the square. Those would be the beta testers, who were clearly already thinking ahead. Within hours, all of the fields would become clogged with people seeking to level up. Spawns would become rare to the point where duels for the rights to a mob would likely occur. The smart ones were already reacting and seeking to gain a head start. Personally, Kirito couldn't blame them. Meanwhile, he had other problems to worry about.

Ducking down low, he sped off toward the flash of chestnut hair he'd glimpsed in the crowd. After 14 years, he'd finally found the VIP he was supposed to protect. In addition, he had to get away from Klein. He'd ask too much questions if he were to discover Kirito following a seemingly random girl.

"Kirito!  
Kirito cursed his luck as he stopped in his tracks. Slowly turning around, he turned to face Klein, who was looking at him with a far more serious expression than Kirito had ever seen on his face.

"I-I was wondering if you wanted to join me and a couple of other friends from another game I played. Since this is now a death game, it'd be much safer if we worked together."

Kirito was already shaking his head. "I worked alone in the beta and I am used to doing so. Joining a group would throw me off balance." The phrase "_You'd all slow me down_" went unsaid between the two. "Maybe sometime later. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM."

Nodding solemnly, Klein awkwardly shuffled his feet. "Alright then, I understand. Take care of yourself out there eh? I want to thank you for your help in the real world someday. Get it? You'd better not die on me in this game! Make it through to the end and I'll treat you to a round of beers when you're of age!"

Spinning around, Kirito threw his reply over his shoulder, ignoring the lump that was swiftly dropping from his throat to his stomach, "You too! You'd better survive until the end! Take care of yourself!"

Sprinting off into the crowd, Kirito swiftly regained sight of the girl he'd been tasked to protect. It would not do for him to fail in the first hour of his duty. Not when he'd been preparing for decades.


	5. First Contact

**A/N: Sorry about the late chapter, I had things coming up today all day. Hope you enjoy Ch 4. Also, if anyone is interested in Beta Reading this story, I'm in desperate need of a beta right now. Thanks for your support and please leave a review!**

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Ch4: First Contact

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1. D+3_**

The forest was dark as Kirito perched in a tree. He'd been thankful that Asuna had headed into the forest immediately. It meant that he'd gotten very close to the quest Secret Medicine of the Forest. It was a trivial matter to complete it while making sure that Asuna was still alive. After obtaining the blade, it was a trivial matter of climbing a tree and following the VIP through the treetops. Humans seldom looked up.

However, as thankful as he was, this was just getting plain ridiculous. Asuna had been fighting for three straight days without pause or rest. At some point, he would have to step in. The signs were clear, and Kirito had seen the symptoms in plenty of fresh recruits after their first battles. After the shocking revelation that war was less about the glory and more about the survival, many would cower away from fighting, flinching excessively at loud noises and glaring at anyone nearby with wild eyes. Others would become dead to the world, shutting down all non-critical bodily functions. These men became beasts, uncaring for themselves or anyone around them. They had given up hope and only wanted the end to come swiftly and painlessly.

Such a sight was what Kirito was observing at the present point in time. Asuna had exhausted all of her physical and mental energy over a period of three days, and was now struggling to even lift her sword. Yet she continued to fight, cutting down one last Little Nepent before she was disarmed. Exhausted, she sank to her knees and stared dumbly at the mob towering over her. She didn't move as the flower's leaf/blade/arm/thing descended.

However, Kirito did. Lightly stepping off the branch, he dropped several feet, landing squarely on the Nepent's "shoulders", crushing it to the ground. At the same time, a dagger sprang from its sheath across his left shoulder. A swift cut later, and the 'sentient' plant dissolved into a cloud of polygons.

"Why?"

Kirito turned to observe the despondent girl in front of him.

"Why did you stop it?"

Kirito hesitated. The situation was delicate. Asuna had obviously lost the will to continue living, and was simply seeking to bring down as many of her 'enemies' as she could before the ultimate end. Her behavior could easily continue if he'd handled it improperly. Kirito doubted that he could explain why he'd just happened to be in the vicinity to prevent her death again.

Instead of replying to her question, he crouched down until he was at eye level to Asuna. Manipulating his inventory, a dark loaf of bread appeared in his hands. It was nothing special, merely a chunk of slightly stale, hard bread available at nearly every shop in town. However, Asuna's eyes followed it's every movement.

While eating was technically not required, the simulated hunger could easily become distracting to the point of lethality within a day. Kirito was quite impressed that Asuna had lasted three. Had she lived in the twenty sixth century, she'd have made a wonderful Spartan.

Handing the bread to her, Kirito tried to smile reassuringly. As a Spartan, he'd never had to accomplish such a task, and he felt that his attempted smile was only half-successful. Wiping the ridiculous half-grimace from his face, he tried to reinstall the will to live into Asuna.

"What would be the point in killing yourself here? If your heart is still beating and your mind still thinking, then there is always a way out. It might take years, but we'll eventually make it out again. Do you not want to see your family again? Do you think they'd want you to take the easy way out and leave them forever broken-hearted? This game will last a few months, a few years at most. After that, you'd be able to look back upon it as a bad dream. Your life will change afterwards, but it'll be nothing in the general view of your life."

A faint spark ignited behind Asuna's eyes.

Desperate to keep it burning, Kirito found himself rambling. "I have a sister myself, actually, she's my cousin, but I've lived with my aunt for so long that I don't think she knows the truth. After I decided to quit Kendo, my grandfather was pissed until Suguha stepped in and said she'd practice enough for the both of us. After that I'd started distancing myself from my family, since I felt that Suguha was angry at the extra work. I need to survive and get back to my family, repair my relationships with them you know. Just recently, Suguha had been accepted into the nationals for kendo, and I'd promised her that I'd go to watch. If I can't go this year, then I at least want to keep my promise once, right? You can't just be satisfied with 'see you later' as your last words to your family can you? There must be something else you want to tell them right?"

Technically, it was a half-truth. He had thoughtlessly promised his 'sister' to attend her kendo match without realizing the date. Now he deeply regretted his actions. However, despite the half-lie, his words worked, as the life returned to Asuna's eyes. Indeed, it seemed to work too well as her eyes filled with tears.

Panicking, Kirito debated on whether to comfort her or not. He'd been trained to kill armies damn it! Not comfort a civilian in her first life or death situation! Where were the army psychologists when you needed them?

His dilemma was solved as Asuna flung her arms around him, seeking comfort in contact with another living, human being. Hesitating just a split second longer, Kirito slowly responded, encircling his arms around her as she had him. He wasn't sure if he did it correctly, but at least it seemed to work.

"Alright then," Kirito heard a faint whisper in his ear, "I'll live on. But I have one condition."

Kirito nodded immediately, anything to keep his target alive.

"Stay alive with me until we get out, and someday I'll introduce you to my family as the one that saved my life."

Kirito froze, as a Spartan, he knew little about civilian customs, but didn't a guy being introduced to a girl's family usually mean – "eeeeeehhhh?!"


	6. Preparations

**A/N: Had school today, so the upload was pretty late. This will probably become normal, to have it uploaded at around this time or even later. Again, still looking for a beta, so if anyone is interested, please send me a PM. Anyway, hope you all enjoy the story and please leave a review about how you felt about it!**

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Ch5: Preparations

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1. D+3_**

Sheepishly, Kirito followed a red-faced Asuna into the marketplace of the Starting Town. His face was red as well, although the hand-shaped imprint clearly pointed to a different reason.

After selling all of their drops and loot from Asuna's three days of relentless grinding, even Kirito was astounded at the amount of loot she had accumulated. The total price for her drops accumulated to a grand total of over 100,000 col. Especially for the low levels, such a number practically made her a millionaire in the quiet streets of the beginners' town.

However, Kirito found his reverence dropping rapidly as Asuna almost immediately threw all her money away on a hooded cloak, and enough cooking ingredients to last both of them to the end of the game.

Dumbly, Kirito followed Asuna to the inn, making sure to stock up on copper ore and Whitesilver ore, available at the NPC Smithing shop for 1 col each. The materials would become essential to him later on, and it was best to stock up on as much as possible before moving on to the next areas. Coming back was always an option, but was quite tedious and time-consuming, especially due to the lack of teleport crystals during the early floors.

Walking into the inn after Asuna, he got within the sound rendering range just in time to hear Asuna's dismayed shout of "Two hundred col per night?! I only have 190 left!"

Shaking his head in disappointment, Kirito tossed his 200 col onto the counter and followed the in-game marker that the game set in his room. Closing the door, he toppled onto the bed and promptly fell asleep. It had literally been a lifetime since he'd stayed awake longer than twenty hours.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn't even properly fallen asleep before a knock on the door brought him out of the pleasant, hazy darkness. Regardless of how tired he was, bitter experience as a Spartan had conditioned him to become fully awake at the slightest irregular noise.

Opening the door, Kirito was unsurprised to find a nervous Asuna there. "I was wondering when you'd swallow your pride and ask," he muttered. Tiredly, he gestured at the bed. "You can have the bed; I've slept in worse places than the floor before." Not even looking back, Kirito once again dropped onto the floorboards. "Close the door would you? I'm too tired to even bother." With that, Kirito promptly fell asleep for the first time in three days.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Nitric Swamp. D+7_**

After a few days of rest after Asuna's initial mad rush, Kirito brought her to the nearby Nitric swamp for training purposes. When she had complained about the long walk, Kirito had merely stated that "fighting more humanoid mobs will be the key to survival in future floors. It is better to start learning to deal with them as soon as possible." In reality, Kirito wanted to farm mobs there for a different reason. The Swamp Monster mob provided little XP for their difficulty, resulting in a low density of players farming them. As compensation, the mobs dropped above average amounts of col, and most importantly, a unique common drop called Unstable Swamp Oil.

Even among the beta testers, Swamp Bark was commonly regarded as a joke item. Not only did it provide no use to blacksmiths, the item also tended to burst into flames when used for cooking. The only apparent use was the addition of a purely cosmetic temporary buff Shimmering Blade when crushed to Unstable Oil and used on a weapon. Understandably, Asuna had stared at him strangely when he told her to keep all drops of Swamp Bark while selling everything else. However, after seeing the amount of col dropping from each kill, Asuna stopped complaining and focused on killing.

Returning back that evening, Kirito was quite satisfied with their progress. With his finances considerably heavier than it had been in the morning, busied himself with breaking the Swamp Bark into Swamp Chippings. Finishing his task, Kirito got up and stretched, heading outside to find a shop where he could buy some Stale Bread for his dinner.

At the same time, the door opened and Asuna walked in, followed by a heavenly aroma of fresh bread. Dodging around her, Kirito tried desperately to suppress his watering mouth. _Hard rations build character._ He silently reminded himself, ignoring the almost irresistible smell of the bread.

"Ah, where are you going, Kirito-san?"

"Dinner." The distracting smell of the bread caused his reply to be sharper than normal.

"O-oh,"

Was it his imagination, or did Asuna's expression drop slightly?

"I-I'd wanted to level up my cooking skill, so I'd baked enough bread for both of us." Hesitantly, Asuna offered one to him.

All thoughts of building character went out the window as Kirito shut the door and accepted the loaf from his partner. "Screw it, I have enough character to last me seven lifetimes." He muttered

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Asuna turned her head quizzically at him.

Quickly, Kirito shook his head. His day ended eating bread in a tiny inn in the middle of the starting city with the ancestor of Wallace Fujikawa.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Boss Dungeon. D+34_**

Sparks flew as Asuna's latest Piercing Strike was deflected off the small buckler of the Kobold Soldier. Stumbling back, she muttered a curse and readied her rapier again. Kirito could only watch as she repeatedly chained the same sword skill at the Kobold's buckler. Within seconds, the buckler's durability hit zero. The next strike found its mark within the unfortunate guard's neck. Giving out a short gurgle, the guard burst into polygons.

Even before the soldier had finished being removed from the game's coding, her rapier was flashing towards her next victim. Swiftly, it too died under the hail of strikes against its body. Asuna didn't get a chance to continue her streak as she was forced to parry a strike from a mob she'd inadvertently aggro'd during her assault.

"Switch!" She yelled as she fell back behind Kirito, reaching for a health potion as the undercover ex-Spartan took on the offensive.

It was Asuna's turn to watch in awe, as Kirito pressed the attack. While her attack strategy relied on incredible DPM created by the sheer volume of strikes against a single target, Kirito chose to remain defensive until he found an opening. When his enemy made even the slightest mistake, it was exploited mercilessly. Each graceful, savage strike was designed to cause the most damage to Kirito's opponent. From afar, it seemed as if a sphere of steel surrounded him as any mob unfortunate enough to be inside was vaporized instantly.

Currently, he was casually fending off strikes from four Kobold Soldiers. As she watched, Kirito's blade flashed over a buckler that had been lowered just a fraction too much. Mercilessly, his Anneal Blade +4 skewered the kobold's brains through its eye. With a twist of his heel, Kirito decapitated the soldier beside the downed kobold in a flowing transition from stab to slash.

Ducking down just in time, he kicked out at the legs of the attacking kobold, causing it to tumble straight into the path of the last kobold. As the two remaining mobs struggled to extricate themselves from the tangle of limbs and blades, Kirito simply skewered both at once, sheathing his blade as he turned away from the first true double kill of SAO.

Shrugging at Asuna's astounded expression, he gestured for her to head back to the inn they were staying at.

"We might as well since we've basically hit the XP cap for this floor. The Boss Room has been found anyway, and we'll be joining the meeting to defeat it tomorrow. We can make a detour through the marketplace to clear our inventory in preparation for the Boss raid as well."

Soon, Kirito and Asuna were heading off to Tolbana in order to sell the drops of the day.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Tolbana Town. D+35_**

"Welcome everyone! Welcome to the first floor's Boss meeting!" A blue haired player shouted at the group that had assembled in the duel stadium of Tolbana.

"My name is Diabel and I like to think about myself as a Knight!"

Chuckles and friendly insults were thrown at him as the gathered people tried to forget about what would be happening the next day. As the blue haired player had likely intended, his starting joke succeeded in lightening the oppressive mood which had hung in the stadium before.

With the fun and games over, he quickly became serious again. "Two days ago, a scouting party led by me uncovered the entrance to the first floor's Boss Room. We are here today to determine the group that would be working to clear the first floor and bring some good news to the people still in the Starting City!"

Cheers followed his announcement, though Kirito felt a slight twinge of disappointment at not being the one to find the Boss Room. He might've been a Spartan Super soldier in his past life, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel a desire to be the best in Aincrad! Beside him, Asuna patted him on the back, sensing his inner turmoil.

"Hold it!" The cheers died down as a tiny midget of a man with ridiculous hair leapt onto the stage. "Before we go any further, there are some people that should be begging for forgiveness due to their behavior!"

Diabel hesitated, "By any chance, are you talking about the beta testers?"

"That's right! All the Beta Testers abandoned us on the first day, hogging all good loot and quests to themselves! If they abandoned us so easily already, how can we trust them to watch our backs?" Nodding to himself, the cactus-haired man continued. "Even worse, they could be anyone here!" He pointed at someone in the crowd at random. "It could be you!" He gestured at himself. "It could be me!" Driving himself in a fanatical rant, the whiner flung his arms out. "It could even be – !"

_Whap!_ Just as Kirito was about to get up and prevent the idiot from dividing the clearing group even more, his task was done for him by a giant of a man wielding a massive battle-axe.

"Before you go any further, I would like to introduce myself. I am Agil, a bartender in the real world. And you are...?"

Cactus-hair flushed as he realized the breach in etiquette he'd preformed in his haste to point fingers. "I-I am Kibaou, what of it?"

A book was waved in his face, causing Kirito to mentally applaud Agil for his ability to grasp the advantage. Agil was being quite condescending to Kibaou, in a manner that was ridiculously polite, and impossible to retaliate against.

"I assume everyone here has received this book?" Turning to the crowd, Agil tapped the book again for emphasis. "It is available for free in every store across the first floor. If you haven't gotten it, I highly recommend you purchase it today. It contains everything from an explanation of all game mechanics to a detailed analysis of all the attack patterns of all known mobs up until the twentieth floor."

Whispers broke out amongst the groups again as they processed the newest piece of information. Seeing Kibaou's momentum halted, Diabel quickly stepped in again.

"Alright, err, now that we've gotten that cleared up; let's discuss what we've come here for in the first place." Pulling out an identical book to Agil's, Diabel continued. "From what we've been able to gather, we know that the first boss is called Illfang the Kobold Lord. His primary weapons are an axe and buckler. We are able to assume that it will switch to a talwar when its third health bar is depleted. It's only notable ability in the first phase is a large AOE attack which will stun anyone within an unknown radius. The talwar is known in the beta test for having a very high DPM but absolutely no status effects, meaning that we can assume the same for Illfang's second weapon."

Kirito frowned; bitter experience had taught him that assumptions were always the main cause of failures. Leaning over to Asuna, he whispered to her, "To my knowledge, everything Diabel-san said is correct. However, be careful of his assumptions. We have no way of knowing if talwar mechanics were changed completely from the Beta."

Asuna nodded slightly as a response.

"With that being said, I want everyone to partner into parties for the raid."

Kirito glanced at Asuna again, "We'll be in a party together right?"

Asuna turned to glare at him in a mock-offended manner. "Did you think any differently?"

"Just checking."

With that, they both turned their attention to those around them. Unfortunately for Asuna and Kirito, everyone else had already partied up, leaving them as the only group not at full strength. Just as Kirito was about to ask for anyone else to join, he was interrupted by Diabel as he continued.

"Alright, now that the parties are formed, I want you three groups to form Platoon A. You three will form Platoon B, while the party of two will be referred to as Squad C." Gesturing at the groups, Diabel quickly organized the raid party.

"During the battle, Platoon B will switch with Platoon A as soon as one member reaches the orange. We'll repeat as needed until the boss is down to the last bar, after which we will all rush it together and take it down as quickly as possible. While this is happening, I want Squad C to keep the adds off our backs."

Kirito frowned at that order. _Why would he have the undermanned squad take on a group of superior numbers? There is no way that two people could manage to stop all the minions at the same time._ However, everyone else was nodding along to the plan.

"Alright, we'll meet up here at 6:00 tomorrow! Don't be late!" Before Kirito could voice his objections, Diabel had already left the stadium.

Beside him, Asuna got up as well. "What's wrong? Don't you want to get some rest for tomorrow?"

Sighing Kirito got up as well, heading towards the exit after Asuna. Giving the arena one last glance, Kirito made a note to discuss his concerns with Diabel tomorrow before the raid.


	7. Illfang

**A/N: Chapter Six is out. Please, leave a review! Apart from a few people, I have absolutely no feedback on whether I'm doing a good job or not! If I suck, please let me know so I can improve! (just do so politely please). Also, still need a Beta Reader if anyone is interested.**

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Ch 6: Illfang

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Boss Dungeon. D+36_**

The march towards the Boss Room was stupidly easy in Kirito's eyes. The moment an unfortunate mob happened to set its artificial eyes on anyone within the raid party, it was systematically picked apart by the 37 other players in the raid. As yet another Kobold fell under his Anneal Blade +5, Kirito glanced at his map.

Within fifteen minutes of entering the dungeon, they had already cleared everything except the Boss Room. However, while the other members of the raid seemed to be in high spirits due to their progress, Kirito could only feel worry. Up to that point, the resistance from the Kobold mobs had been very scattered, with groups of four or five attacking at once. The Boss Room would concentrate a much greater amount of firepower over a much shorter period of time.

Turning his attention back to the present, Kirito realized that Diabel had already given a short speech before pushing the door open to the Boss Room. With a deafening roar from 36 throats, the raid party charged into the darkness.

_Stupid. Very stupid._ Kirito reached out just in time to stop Asuna from joining the mad rush.

"Don't rush into a room without taking stock of the situation!" He called, trying to stop the raid members from throwing their lives away in an amateur rush.

Indeed, his caution seemed to have paid off. Running at full speed into the pitch black room, none of the raid members could see anything for a few critical seconds. In those critical seconds, several things happened at once.

A massive roar deafened everyone as twelve were swept up in a single massive swing. Two died outright, disappearing in sparkling clouds of polygons. The rest landed heavily, their health bars deep in the red. At the same time, bright lights flared into existence, blinding the rest of the group as their eyes tried to readjust yet again to the change in light level.

Cries of confusion and dismay filled the air, and four members threw down their weapons, turning tail and running for the exit. They were systematically stopped and executed by the four Ruin Kobold Sentinels dropping from the ceiling.

Bodies flew into the air as the boss pounded the ground with his AOE attack, catching all but one in its radial stun attack. Another player burst into pieces.

Cursing to himself, Kirito leapt into the room, blade already sinking into the flesh between one of the sentinels' shoulder blades. Ducking under a polearm, he struck the pommel of his blade into the second minion's gut. Kicking it back to give himself more room, he palmed the sheath on his right shoulder, drawing a second short dagger into his left hand.

Almost casually, it deflected a third sentinel's sword. Not encountering the expected resistance, the sentinel stumbled forward, suffering a slash across its throat, bringing it down to a quarter of its original health. However, Kirito's aim was no longer at the minions. With the plan falling apart the moment they entered the room, he did what he always did best. He improvised.

Sprinting forwards, he slashed Illfang across the knee just as the Boss was finishing its next attack. With a roar of simulated pain the attack dissipated, thus saving the lives of the remaining clearers. Ducking to the side, the axe cleaved the air centimeters away from his face, but Kirito was already long gone.

As he guided the next strike into Illfang's Achilles' tendon, Kirito felt the world slowing down. Illfang's mouth opened in a near eternal roar, as he turned to strike at Kirito in slow motion. The roar of pain sounded odd to Kirito's ears as the hissing of the blade alerted him to the incoming danger several hours in advance.

Jumping up and to the right, Kirito practically touched the polished axe blade as he slashed at the hand wielding it. Tucking his feet under him in a roll, Kirito ducked between Illfang's feet. Another slash brought the towering boss to its knees as both feet lost their ability to move.

However, Kirito realized that he'd neglected one critical aspect as he found himself thrown against the wall by a buckler the size of a pelican dropship.

"Kirito-kun!"

Gasping for breath, Kirito pulled himself to his feet just as he felt Asuna's arm on his shoulder. Giving a glance at his health, he was alarmed to find it dangerously close to the red. A single swing had taken out 60% of his HP.

Kirito regained his senses just in time to find a shadow looming over him. Reacting instinctively, he pushed Asuna to the right, using the momentum to drive himself left in an attempt to escape the giant axe dropping down from above. However, he knew that it wouldn't be enough. His push had been enough to send Asuna tumbling to the right, but barely managed to budge him from his starting position. As the blade descended, Kirito could clearly tell that it would skim the bottom of his feet. Had he been in the real world, he'd probably recover from such a wound within a week. However, SAO modeled life as a number. Judging from the first strike, that number would not be enough of a buffer for him to survive.

Just as the blade was about to come into contact, A second axe buried itself into Illfang's gut, pushing the boss two critical millimeters further. Kirito's shoes burst into polygons as their durability sank to 0.

Landing heavily on his stomach, he heard Asuna call his name out in worry for the second time in a minute. A moment later, her arm was around him as she tried to pull him to his feet.

Pulling himself together, Kirito quickly thanked his partner while re-equipping another set of boots. In a game where one point of damage could mean the difference between life and death, Kirito always made sure to bring backups with him, as well as backups for the backups.

Just as he picked up his sword, another hand stopped him from leaping back into the fight.

Diabel's eyes glowed with respect as he held Kirito back. "You've done enough for today by saving the entire raid group. Fall back and recover your strength for now. If you could, stopping the last three minions would be nice."

Panting, Kirito nodded his head. In all honesty, being smashed by a giant wood disk had shaken him more than it appeared.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 1, Boss Room. D+36_**

Asuna released a sigh of relief as Kirito was stopped by Diabel. _Honestly, it's like he doesn't even want to live anymore! And he has the nerve to lecture me about it!_

She didn't notice her relief among the myriad of other emotions running through her.

Initially, she'd been confused when Kirito had stopped her. That confusion quickly turned into horror as six of the original 38 had been systematically executed before her eyes. _That could've been me. _She'd thought.

Then, when she was frozen in horror, Kirito had rushed into the room, casually killing a Ruin Kobold Sentinel on his way to the boss. After reaching the boss, Kirito became a blur of motion, before suddenly; the boss was on his knees.

Then her heart had leapt into her mouth as Kirito was flung across the room by one of the Boss' flailing arms. Subconsciously, her feet carried her towards him as he struggled to his feet.

She'd been about to yell at him, scream, punch him for his foolishness. Anything to stop him from doing the same thing twice.

Kirito beat her to it as she found herself pushed backwards by an unbelievably strong force. Her mouth opened to scream as her brain struggled to keep up. She'd seen enough movies to know what happened next.

The relief at the raid group's recovery almost overwhelmed her as she ran towards the fallen Kirito. The relief had turned into panic as Kirito promptly started to head back into the fray. _Did this boy have a death wish?_

Asuna wanted to hug Diabel when he intervened and stopped Kirito's madness. However, she could've screamed at Kirito when he simply turned his attention to the Kobold Sentinels that had been harassing the main party.

That would simply not do. Kirito should be at the back drinking the game's entire stock of HP potions right now! He shouldn't be fighting on the front lines!

Asuna felt herself take a step forward, halting Kirito as she purposefully strode towards the three Kobolds. Fortunately for her, the three mobs were entirely focused on a single unfortunate player, who was cowering behind a shield, trying desperately to stay alive.

_Perfect_.

Her first Piercing Hit struck the center Kobold straight in the back, stunning it temporarily. Her second strike was moving towards the Kobold's unprotected back before the first animation had even completed.

By itself, Piercing Hit did very little damage. However, it held a 30% chance to stun the target for 5 seconds with every hit. For most people, such a system was considered too weak, resulting in the distinct lack of rapier users in the game. However, for Asuna, she could push the game to the point where she would be able to land over five hits per second. By doing so, she could easily keep a single, or even two targets stunned permanently. With her insane rate of attack, the Kobolds were soon floating away as polygons scattered in the air.

Turning back to glare at an awestruck Kirito, she spoke in a quiet voice. "Don't even think about jumping into another fight. Nervously, Kirito nodded.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Boss Room. D+36_**

Nervously, Kirito gripped his Anneal Blade +5 in his slightly sweaty palm. Despite what Asuna had threatened, it went against every fiber of his being to sit back and let others do the work. Especially since the raid was very obviously in serious trouble.

While the raid had regained much of its original cohesion, Kirito's trained eye could see the despair within every one's eyes. After a flawless dungeon run, they had been expecting a relatively easy boss. The surprise attack had thrown everyone off balance.

Diabel had managed to form up several temporary squads, directing them to rotate whenever the lead group was low on HP. However, the rotations were happening too quickly. Old members barely had a few seconds respite before they had to be pressed back into the lead.

At long last, the third bar of HP was finally depleted from Illfang's health pool. With a roar of anger, Illfang tossed the axe at the one who had connected the final hit. With a cry of surprise, the unfortunate player vanished as well. The eighth casualty of the raid.

The buckler swiftly followed, shattering against the wall in a shower of splinters and twisted iron. Kirito's eyes widened as he leapt for the broken shield, quickly storing the iron strips into his inventory before the rest of the shield dissolved as well.

Decades of experience on far deadlier battlefields forced Kirito to jump back just in time to avoid the shower of masonry as the section of wall hit by the buckler collapsed. Kirito cursed as he saw six Kobold Retainers walk out of the new entrance, hissing in anger.

The first Retainer fell to his sword before it even finished its spawn animation. The second toppled back moments later, completely cut into two.

Lunging for the third, a dagger seemed to materialize in his free hand, redirecting a strike from a fourth Retainer. Just as he finished beheading his original target, a rhythmic _thud thud thud_ similar to machine gun fire caused him to throw himself to the ground. Glancing around wildly, Kirito relaxed slightly when he saw two Retainers paralyzed under Asuna's relentless barrage.

Climbing to his feet, Kirito turned to face the last Retainer who was circling around him warily after seeing its friends cut down so easily.

"Guess it's just me and ugly now."

For a few nanoseconds, both sides glared each other down, before Kirito leaned over to the right, allowing the Retainer's blade to pass by his cheek harmlessly. Taking advantage of the Retainer's unbalanced stance, he kicked out at the Retainer, sending the mob stumbling back a few steps. With a ringing crash, Kirito's dagger flew out of his hands as the Retainer miraculously managed to block. Its respite was short-lived as it was forced to stumble back to avoid a murderous overhead cut aimed at bisecting the mob into two. Kirito's follow-up strike went unneeded as gravity killed the last Retainer, directing the dagger down between its eyes.

Nobody had time to be surprised, as Illfang was still rampaging across the room with a massive nodachi. With everyone expecting a talwar, the raid had been woefully unprepared as the boss unleashed a plethora of status effects with a weapon not normally seen until floor 15.

Kirito grimaced as yet another unfortunate victim was kicked up by Illfang, only to be slashed to pieces before hitting the ground. Glancing at Illfang's remaining health; Kirito felt a flash of concern as he realized that it was still at 80%.

Barely hesitating for a second, he rushed forwards to help. He'd already disregarded Asuna's order anyway, might as well go all out. Reaching the boss, Kirito leapt up as high as he could, plunging his blade into Illfang's leg at the apex of his jump. Grabbing a fistful of Illfang's fur, he retracted his blade, reaching up and stabbing it into the boss' flesh slightly further up. Repeating the process, Kirito soon found what he was looking for. Leaving his Anneal Blade in Illfang's body, he grabbed a handful of fur with his right hand. With his left, he flashed through the menu, producing a handful of the Swamp Chippings he'd farmed with Asuna in the first few days of SAO. Jamming it into a small pocket where the chippings wouldn't fall out, he pushed back as hard as he could. The moment he was far enough, Kirito brought his blade up and held his position in midair. With it, Kirito preformed his first use of a sword skill under combat situations.

The smell of ozone was distinct for a fraction of a second as Kirito's Electrical Charge pulled him forwards. Sparks flew as his weak sword skill deflected off Illfang's armor. Landing heavily, Kirito rolled out of the way, straight into his fellow raid members as they stood by in shock at his stupidity. Calmly, Kirito sheathed his sword and walked away.

"W-What are you doing?! Are you stupid?! Coward!" Outraged shouts followed him as he headed towards the end of the room.

They got their answer as the boss promptly erupted into a ball of fire. Unknown to everyone else, the Swamp Bark found in the Nitric Swamp was not there by coincidence. With SAO's game engine simulating organic wood bark under constant exposure to gases in the Nitric swamp, the Swamp Bark had become very similar in nature to a more modern material: Nitrocellulose, also known as guncotton.

The sparks from his Electrical Charge had provided the initial energy needed for the unstable Swamp Chippings to begin its work. For a few seconds, the chippings shouldered where the sparks had landed. With increasing frequency, the flames spread until all the chippings were burning merrily.

Normally, the fire from the burning Swamp Chippings would do little more than annoy the mob. However, Illfang had a specific weakness in the form of its fur. Going for decades, or even centuries without a bath, Illfang's fur was covered in oil from countless years of simulated exertion. Combined with fur's high contact area to air and oxygen, Illfang was a walking fireball waiting to happen.

Kirito smiled grimly to himself as the boss transformed into a pillar of flame. Illfang's roars of anger quickly turned into shrieks of fear as the boss tried desperately to put out the flames around its waist. Doing so only spread the inferno to its arms, and its HP began dropping even faster.

Within half a minute, Illfang's charred remains collapsed onto the floor, still shouldering. With the sound of breaking glass, the corpse dissipated into polygons, slowly being deleted from the game's coding.

Congratulations!

To the members of the raid group, the message seemed like both a blessing and an insult. Of the 38 members who'd entered the Boss Room, only 21 remained. 17 players had lost their lives in the first boss battle of the entire game.

As the one to score the killing "blow" on Illfang, Kirito had an extra window. The text box floated at eye level, stating the unique item he'd received as a reward: Cloak of Darkness

By using fire to defeat Illfang, Kirito couldn't hold back a grim chuckle at the irony of the drop's name.


	8. Divisions

**A/N: Chapter 7 is out. Seriously guys, PLEASE REVIEW! I have no idea how I'm doing with this story. Give me feedback so I know what I'm doing wrong! If I'm being absolutely perfect, at least tell me that! Don't leave me wondering, I loose incentive if that is the case.**

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Ch 7: Divisions

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 1, Boss Room. D+36_**

Deathly silence filled the room. Too tired to even celebrate their victory over the Floor 1 Boss, many of the survivors simply stared at Kirito in shock for his unorthodox methods.

However, all was not silent. From the rear, someone cried out. "Why?"

As one, the depleted raid group turned to look at the speaker.

"Why did you let those guys die?" Kibaou shook in anger as he glared at Kirito from the back of the group. "I saw you at the beginning! You were one of the last to enter! You used us as bait to draw the boss out!"

Shocked, the raid group turned to look at each other, trying to verify this new revelation.

Calmly, Kirito met Kibaou's glare. "If you hadn't been so desperate for glory, you'd have heard me trying to stop you from rushing in headfirst. Let this be your first lesson in caution; don't rush into a situation without first knowing what to expect."

Angrily gnashing his teeth, Kibaou refused to back down. "How did you know that we would be ambushed? Are you working with Kayaba?"

"O-Oi, don't say stuff like that when you know it's not true!" Diabel stepped in, trying to stop the argument before it went too far.

"How do I know it's not true? The only thing we know is that he predicted Illfang's ambush when there was no indication of one!" Kiabou spat, "He could be a spy sent by Akihiko!"

"Would I have even tried to warn you if I were Akihiko's spy?" Kirito's question stalled Kibaou in his tracks, as the raid party uncertainly looked between both sides.

"T-Then you must've seen the attack pattern of the boss beforehand! That means you were a beta tester! N-No! Even beta testers did not know of the ambush! You're a cheater!"

Angry cries rose up from the raid group as they banded together, calling for Kirito's head. "Cheater! Cheater!"

Another voice rose above the others. "No! He's a beta tester AND a cheater! He's a beater!"

Diabel hurriedly stepped in, trying to quell Kibaou's momentum. "W-Wait! Kirito was the one to kill the boss! We can't just kill him as well!"

However, with the pressure of the raid group's anger pressing down on him, he'd completely lost his skills as a public speaker. His words only served to inflame the group.

"Exactly! He'd been after the last attack bonus all along! He's definitely a beater! By defending him, you must be one as well!"

At this point, the raid group's anger seemed unstoppable as they bore down on Kirito.

"I-IDIOTS!" Time seemed to stop as everyone turned to the source of the shout.

Seeing Kirito in trouble, Asuna finally managed to break free from her previous bouts of battle shock. "He just saved your miserable lives! When you were all knocked down and at the mercy of the boss, he stepped in and distracted it! He killed it for you when you obviously could not! This is how you thank him?!"

With Asuna's venomous words piercing through the haze of anger, most of the raid group looked down in embarrassment and shame. Even Kibaou realized that the momentum had turned against him, and settled for glaring angrily at Kirito.

Kirito decided that it was time to stop the rift in the raid group from spreading even further. "The world we are in is not a game. With our lives on the line, there is no such thing as a cheat anymore. Only safeguards. I'd encourage every one of you to start seeking out exploits like the one I used back there." Gesturing at where Illfang's charred corpse had been, Kirito turned his back to the group.

Flipping his left hand through his player menu, he equipped the Cloak of Darkness. "As for my sixth sense about Illfang's ambush, you'll all get it soon enough. Let this raid serve as a reminder that caution and clear thinking will always trump willpower. You can't kill an enemy by _willing _him to die."

Sweeping forward, Kirito activated the floor 2 gate and left through the glowing portal of darkness.

After a brief hesitation, Asuna followed as well.

Looking at the room, Diabel grimly shook his head as he attempted to patch up the gigantic rift between the players created by Kibaou. Kirito was right; they'd need to do everything possible to get out of the game alive. Currently, that meant a strong and unified front, which had been utterly destroyed the moment Kibaou opened his mouth. It would be a long time before the clearing group could become as cohesive as the raid on Illfang.


	9. Cardinal

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Chapter 8 is out now. This one is more of a transition into the next few chapters, as well as a hint to what the future holds for this story. Again, still looking for a Beta. Please leave a review and tell me what you think about the story! **

Also, realized that I forgot the obligatory Disclaimers! so here it is: I don't own anything here except possibly parts of the future plotline, and my own ideas. Characters, setting, etc entirely belong to their respective creators, etc.

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Chapter 8: Cardinal

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Entrance Town. D+36_**

"Wait."

Kirito cursed to himself as he heard Asuna call from behind him. He had hoped to be able to get away and let the matter settle before returning. Otherwise, he'd face the possibility of Asuna leaving their party.

If that were to happen, he'd have to tell her about his true origins. Otherwise, how would he be able to explain his presence when he had to jump in and help her again? With the complexity and difficulty of SAO, it would not be a matter of when, not if Asuna would get herself into trouble again. Floor 3 would be the critical point, since it was when the first true humanoid mobs showed up. Even in a game, the full dive technology of the NerveGear made killing humanoid NPCs frighteningly real. Kirito had seen plenty of fully trained soldiers seize up after their first kills. With unprepared, underdeveloped minds and the lack of support in a MMO game, seizing up after a "kill" in SAO would only result in death. With the first major obstacle still to come, Kirito knew that he had to stick close to Asuna and watch her back when she made that first, critical kill.

"Where are you going?" Asuna kept pace with him, making it impossible for Kirito to speed up and feign deafness.

"The marketplace." Kirito said shortly, "I need to stock up on potions after that fight, and I'd also like to see if I can replace my dagger as well." His left hand rose to touch the empty sheath of the dagger he'd lost moments ago in the Floor 1 Boss Dungeon.

"Well I'm coming with you."

Kirito stopped in the street and turned to face her. Even after she'd defended him against Kibaou, he'd expected her to be at least slightly wary of his backgrounds. Nobody would be able to perform his actions simply by playing games all their lives. He'd practically shouted about his combat experience to the whole raid group with his actions. Such combat experience at his age range would be totally incomprehensible to the people of the current age.

"You're not bothered by how familiar I am with fighting and combat? You aren't wondering how I learned to fight the way I did?" Kirito felt hope rising into his chest as he looked into Asuna's clear eyes. It would make his job much easier if she did not question his combat experience. Yet he knew it was impossible. The 21st century was a relatively peaceful one, and combat abilities of his level were practically unheard of, even in his original time. As a Spartan, his name had been thrown around with the likes of the "Master Chief", and "Noble Six". Here, he could probably conquer the entire world by himself if he wanted to.

Asuna looked at him strangely. "Of course I'm wondering how you were able to fight the way you did! The way you took down the boss made movie stars look like novices!" She hesitated, and then continued. "But isn't it rude to ask others about their lives outside of this game? I honestly do not care about where you learned to fight the way you did. I'm troubled, yes, but after getting to know you, I think that you'll only use your abilities to help us get out of here faster. If that is the case, then I have no reason to pry into your past. Anyway, you've promised to stick beside me until the end of this game. I'm not letting you off the hook so easily."

"Thanks I guess. I suppose that I'm still not very willing to tell speak about my history yet. If you're willing to wait some time, I promise to talk about it sometime in the future." Speeding up to hide his relief, Kirito headed towards the market.

Behind him, Asuna cast a sad glance at his back, wondering what he had gone through in order to become so familiar with weapons and combat.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Entrance Town. D+37_**

SYSTEM ALERT!

Kirito's eyes blinked open instantly as something out of the ordinary woke him up. Giving no outwards sign of regaining consciousness, Kirito swiftly identified the source as the soft whine of his character menu. Realizing that it wasn't an enemy out after his head, Kirito sat up, tapping the Play button on the message.

A glowing field of text appeared before him, fluctuating for a few seconds before solidifying into a glowing, golden rectangle. From the avatar, a smooth voice filled the room.

"Greetings Swordsman! With the completion of the tutorial floor's main boss, all limiters have been removed from SAO's CARDINAL System! From this moment onwards, the CARDINAL Software will maintain the balance of SAO's gameplay, including new patches and holiday events! Have fun, and enjoy the full experience of Sword Art Online! May your Holy Crusade to the hundredth floor end in our salvation!" With the end of the message, the avatar disappeared, leaving the room in darkness.

Kirito felt a shiver run down his spine. His instincts told him that this CARDINAL system would hold great implications for the future. He'd learned to trust his instincts a long time ago.

In addition, a suspicion started to form in the back of his mind. If it were true, it would give SAO an entirely new purpose. One that was ten thousand times more ominous than being a "simple" death game.


	10. The End of Innocence

**A/N: Sorry for the late upload! I had several things to do with college acceptances and financial stuff in the past weekend. Hopefully, this longer chapter will make up for it. It finally starts to flesh out Kirito and Asuna's interactions, in addition to my attempts at following the advice given to me by you guys! Tell me how I did please! Also, this is where the true parts of my story come out, instead of just rehashed cannon. Anyways, still looking for a Beta, and also an internet cookie for the one who can PM me with a theory for why Kirito is farming for the specific items mentioned so far through the story (Hint: Illfang was NOT the primary reason). Please do not post the answer in a review as I want it to remain as a surprise for the others. I just want to see if I'm making my foreshadowing too obvious or not. Anyway, please leave a review, and onto the chapter!**

**Oh, and could someone give me some directions to making the angle brackets appear without manually adding them in? HTML doesn't like me using them :3**

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**Also, Disclaimers: I do not own anything except my own plotlines etc. etc.**

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Chapter 9: The End of Innocence

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Field of Clouds. D+40_**

"Ahh! A successful day of leveling!" Asuna exclaimed as she ran ahead of Kirito on their way back to the inn. "Wouldn't you agree Kirito-kun?" Turning around, she turned to look at him.

"Hmm." Kirito made a noncommittal noise, busy with his current task.

"Honestly though, I feel like it would've been more effective if someone hadn't insisted on leveling in a field two times further than the one closest to town." She glared meaningfully at Kirito.

"I told you, I was after the drops in that field." Kirito continued walking with his nose buried in his menu.

"Oh? So someone wants to take up tailoring? Who would've thought? The Black Swordsman sitting down and selling designer clothing?" Asuna giggled at the image.

"Not tailoring. Puffcloud Fibers have a different use."

"Really? What info broker did you get that information from? Last time I checked, it was only good for player-made costumes." Asuna's tone practically dripped of sarcasm.

"True, the composition of Puffcloud Fibers is very similar to cotton, which makes it a natural ingredient in tailoring. But even in the real world, cotton has other uses."

"Eh, whatever you say." Asuna's interest quickly changed to a different topic, as she knew how stubborn Kirito was at revealing information he didn't want to. "Well, I'd say that it's pretty impressive that I've leveled up more in a day than you did for the first time in the game!"

"Hmm." One word answers are always best when one has a higher question in their mind. Kirito also neglected to mention that he'd only gained less levels that day due to being far enough ahead of Asuna that the xp required made it practically impossible to level up further on the current floor.

"Are you even listening?" Asuna sounded distinctly annoyed, prompting Kirito to look up for the first time in five minutes. An angry Asuna was a dangerous Asuna.

"Of course. I'd say that it was pretty impressive." With the danger averted, he immediately turned his attention back onto his menu. "Did you know that Akihiko started his career as an archaeologist?"

"What?" Asuna was caught off guard at the sudden change in topic.

"Never mind, I'm just talking to myself." Kirito hurried to divert Asuna's attention. Hmm, wonder why he changed careers." He muttered.

"Maybe he didn't like the pay or the job?" Asuna put in her own thoughts.

"Maybe, but how did he develop the Nervegear when his previous focus had been on the past? The further I look into this, the less sense it makes." Kirito's thoughts were spinning as he tried to connect the Akihiko of today to an Akihiko digging through ancient ruins in search of artifacts of the past. Even for him, the divide between the two seemed too great to be normal, and it scared Kirito more than any boss SAO could throw at him.

"Akihiko is a genius. A mad genius, but a genius nonetheless. His history doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is getting out of this death game." Asuna was starting to sound annoyed again. Kirito's fixation of Akihiko confused her, and she didn't like being confused.

"Hmm, maybe." Though Kirito was still suspicious, he let the matter drop. An angry Asuna was a dangerous Asuna.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Travelers' Road. D+40_**

"Wait." Kirito reached out and stopped Asuna in the middle of the track.

"What?" Asuna's voice sounded dangerously annoyed at being delayed from a bath at the inn.

Ignoring her dangerous tone, Kirito reached forwards and snagged a rope trailing downwards from a tree. "Someone set a trap here. From the location, it's pretty obvious that they aren't after NPC mobs. Though the placement is so obvious, I doubt anyone would've fallen for it."

Beside him, Asuna shifted uncomfortably.

Turning his head, Kirito raised an eyebrow.

"You saw the trap right?"

Asuna hesitated, before replying. "Y-Yeah! Of course I saw it! I was just about to warn you in case you missed it!"

"Right." Kirito deadpanned. "You totally would've fallen for it if I hadn't stopped you."

"H-Hey! I was tired and looking forward to resting at the inn!" Asuna protested.

As Kirito was about to tease her further, he suddenly whirled around, deflecting a thrown spike with his Anneal Blade +9 before it had even left the sheath.

"Come out!" he called.

"Kehehehehe!" A wailing laughter filled the air as six masked figures emerged from the darkening woods.

Kirito tensed as he saw the short stabbing swords held in their hands and the orange cursors above their heads.

"Give us all your items and we might let you live!" the leading figure's mask seemed to grin as he stepped forwards. Beside him, the rest fanned out to surround Kirito and Asuna.

Kirito hesitated, before slowly crouching down and setting his sword on the ground.

"O-oy!" Asuna's protest could be heard clearly as she raised her blade higher in direct defiance to the masked figure.

Kirito remained kneeling, "Give it up; they outnumber use three to one. With you being your current level, you could probably take on one at the most. Even I can't duel five at once while also keeping an eye on you." As he spoke, his eyes shifted around the circle. Ridiculously, he had to stifle a laugh at the names of the players. No matter how he looked at it, U171m473n00bk1ll4hPr0A55A551N was not a normal name. However, Kirito managed to keep a straight face.

Seeing Asuna hesitate, the leader put in his own thoughts. "Kehehehehe! Do as your boyfriend says now and be a good girl! Otherwise, we cannot guarantee your survival!"

Again, Asuna hesitated, before slowly lowering her rapier as well.

"Kehehehehehe! There's a good girl!" As the leader spoke, the bandits tightened the circle, eager to discover the kind of loot they'd get from the two travelers.

Slowly, Kirito opened his menu and brought out the drops they'd looted from the mobs that day. Handing the drops to the leader, he brought out a small jar of cream as well. As his hands neared the leader, the jar slipped from his hands, and Kirito ducked to catch it. Followed by the sound of shattering ceramic, Kirito muttered an apology to Asuna as his hands came into contact with the ground.

Grabbing a handful of dirt, he spun around on his heel, spraying the dust the eyes of everyone around him. As they stumbled back in surprise, his hand was already closing on his Anneal Blade +9. Squinting through the dust, Kirito's sword flashed outwards, cutting through two of the would-be PKers before they could even cry out. The panicked cries of their comrades served to mask the particles breaking apart. As his third strike reached towards his next victim, the figure instinctively raised his arm, and Kirito cursed as he found his sword blocked by pure luck.

With his advantage gone, Kirito retreated back to where Asuna was rubbing her eyes from the last of the dirt he'd tossed in her eyes. As he'd intended, it had prevented her from seeing his two kills.

Similarly, the PK group had also regained their senses, and now fanned out in a wide circle, warily watching Kirito as he held his blade at the ready.

"Where's XXXxxxUltimateProMLG360NOSCOPRxxxXXX and Chucknorris04837513?" The leader called as he scanned his depleted forces.

"Don't know, I'm assuming they ran!" Another shouted back.

"Could that guy have killed them?"

"Nah, he was after me, I just managed to block his sword!"

Kirito could almost see the frown behind the leader's mask as he circled around him.

"I'll be sure to deal with them later. For now, we'll kill these two. Imascrub! You take care of the girl! The rest of us will kill her insolent boyfriend!"

One of the masked figures nodded, before sprinting at Asuna.

In a single motion, Kirito spun around Asuna and landed a devastating kick into Imascrub's stomach.

"Deal with him. I'll take care of the rest." Kirito gestured into the bushes where Imascrub landed.

Hesitating, Asuna asked, "What about you?"

"Two of them ran away, so I can handle fighting three on one."

Nodding her head, Asuna grabbed her rapier from the ground and dove into the foliage.

Behind her, Kirito drew his dagger as well. "Now, Who's first?"

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 2. Travelers' Road. D+40_**

Wading through bushes was annoying. The branches grabbed at her clothing, and every rustle of the leaves made her jump. The fact that her opponent was nowhere to be seen also served to set her nerves on edge. Slowly, the clashing of swords faded behind her.

Asuna felt a flash of fear run through her. What would she do if she returned to find Kirito dead, and the other three waiting for her? What if Imascrub killed her while she was blundering through the woodlands?

The thought made her spin around, her eyes searching wildly for something out of place amongst the dense trees. Seeing nothing, Asuna turned back to the front. A flicker of movement in her peripheral brought her sword up in a piercing strike, just missing the tail of a startled rabbit.

Sighing in relief, Asuna tried to calm her pounding heart. In the gathering darkness, the shadows seemed sinister, and every flicker of motion seemed like a blade lunging towards her.

_There!_ Her blade rose again. This time, her Linear shattered a branch which had been waving in the wind. Asuna felt anger at Kirito rising in her chest again. It was his fault that her eyes were still stinging from the dirt he'd thrown. _Could he not aim more carefully?_ In fact, it was probably his fault that they were even in this situation to begin with! If only they'd gone to the nearer leveling field, she'd already be back at the inn, enjoying her bath! What was that stupid Puffcloud Fiber good for anyways?

In her anger, Asuna almost missed the glinting light which came down from above. Scrambling back, she managed to deflect the blade into the earth with her rapier. However, the advantages were all with Imascrub. Desperately, she retreated from the onslaught as she tried to find a break to gather her wits.

The break never came and Asuna found her health dropping to the yellow as another Horizontal managed to break past her defenses. Desperately, she kicked out. Her foot met resistance as her attacker howled in pain, stumbling backwards in a final, fatal motion.

With her eyes blinded by virtual sweat, Asuna blindly lunged forwards, her blade glowing with the first Linear of the chain which had made her famous. Instinctively, the second and third strikes followed almost immediately, along with the fourth and the fifth.

By the time Asuna realized that she was fighting another living player, it was already too late. Her sixth strike halted just in time for her to see Imascrub disappearing in a shower of polygons. Sometime ago, the mask had fallen off his face, and his terrified eyes could be seen clearly even in the gathering darkness.

While Asuna had visualized a demonic, deformed face behind the mask, she found herself surprised at how normal he looked. The dark eyes and black hair could have been from any one of her classmates at the school she attended. In a moment that could've lasted forever, Asuna saw the mouth moving in a single, distinct, terrifying word. _Murderer!_

Then, the polygons faded, and Asuna found herself plunged into the darkness of night. _Murderer! Murderer! MURDERER! _Her rapier clattered to the ground as she dropped to her knees.

"No," She whispered.

A white menu popped up in front of her, listing the drops she'd earned by killing Imascrub.

"No, no, NO!" Her terrified scream echoed through the forest as she tried to scramble away from the glowing menu.

Bouncing slightly, it followed her.

"No, I-I'm sorry" she sobbed "I didn't mean to kill you. I only wanted to get back home safely."

The terrified eyes of the person she killed stared back at her in the darkness, haunting her.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Travelers' Road. D+40_**

Kirito sighed as his last opponent vanished in a burst of polygons. The leader of the group had been more skilled than he'd originally thought, managing to parry his strikes for several minutes before a mistake ended his life. However, the battles were done and Kirito needed to find Asuna as soon as possible. Swinging his sword into its sheath, Kirito glanced at the ground, his enhanced eyesight easily picking up the indications of Asuna's path. Nodding to himself, Kirito set off into the forest. The first indication that something was wrong was Asuna's crying. Leaping towards the sound, Kirito sped off in her direction.

It only took one glance at the battle site before Kirito realized what had happened. The discarded rapier and glowing menu were dead giveaways. Cautiously, Kirito approached, dropping down beside her and placing an arm around her shoulder.

Asuna jumped, her eyes searching wildly around her for the ghosts only she could see. Recognizing Kirito, she immediately buried herself in his arms, seeking solace and comfort from her only source of normalcy in the Death Game.

"I killed him" She whispered, "I'm a murderer."

Holding her tightly, Kirito shook his head, "No, you aren't. That player was the murderer. Didn't you see the orange marker? He would've killed you if you hadn't done anything. It was self-defense."

"Still, I killed him. He called me a murderer with his last words."

Kirito cursed to himself. He'd originally planned to ease Asuna into the reality of the death game on floor 3, with the humanoid NPCs. Instead, she'd made her first kill an entire floor before he planned.

"No, Akihiko killed him." Kirito whispered, "In any other game, he'd respawn at the starting town without his gear, and he'd still be alive. It was Akihiko's programming that killed him."

"But I was the one who caused his death. Akihiko made the weapon and I pulled the trigger." Asuna's voice sounded frighteningly fragile.

Kirito had no reply as he tightened his arms around her, seeking to comfort the girl who held the fate of the world in her hands.

Eventually, Asuna's sobs subsided and she withdrew from his arms. "Well? What happened with your opponents?"

Her voice sounded steady and normal, but Kirito knew better. Even with his fellow Spartans, he'd never seen anyone recover so quickly.

He hesitated, before quietly replying, "Two got away, one died."

For a fraction of a second, Asuna's composure broke again, before she regained control over her face again. "How do you stand it?" she murmured, glancing sadly at a spot between two trees.

Kirito hesitated, and then he realized that it would be better for her to hear a part of the truth. It would be good for her to be able to talk with someone who understood. Even if that proved fruitless, at least it could distract her from her current nightmare.

"It wasn't my first kill," he murmured.

Asuna's eyes widened as she heard the first bit of Kirito's past. Momentarily, she found herself distracted by the mystery of her partner's history. "Wasn't your first kill?"

"Yeah, I can't tell you the circumstances yet, not until you're ready. However, I made my first kill a while ago, in a situation that few could comprehend."

Momentarily, Asuna felt a thrill of fear run through her, before she pushed it aside. She had no right to be judging him for killing another when she'd done the same minutes ago.

"D-Does it ever get easier?" Again, the image of the PKer's face flashed through her mind.

Kirito shook his head. "No, but you do become used to dealing with it." Kirito smiled grimly, "It's equally terrifying as it is relieving."

Shaking his head one last time, Kirito grabbed Asuna's hand. Picking up her rapier, he carried it in his free hand as he led her back to the inn.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 2. Travelers' Inn. D+40_**

Kirito sat in Asuna's room with a light blush on his face as he waited for her to come out of the bathroom. Despite being a battle-hardened Supersoldier from five hundred years in the future, he had to admit that his life as Kirigaya Kazuto had changed his views dramatically. To pass the time and distract himself, he brought out the articles he'd been looking at earlier in the day.

The click of the lock brought him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Asuna walking tiredly out of the room.

"Go to sleep, I'll talk to you in the morning." Kirito whispered softly, before turning to the door leading into the hallway.

"Wait." Asuna's voice drifted over to him. "Stay here for today, please. I can't stand the thought of being here alone."

Kirito hesitated, ready to decline the offer before she'd even finished talking. However, her fragile tone made him realize just how troubled she was over that day's events.

Nodding cautiously, Kirito replied, "Alright, but I'm taking the floor."

Guiding her over to the bed, he watched her climb in before lying down on the ground beside her. Slowly, the lights extinguished themselves as the game reacted to their behavior.

Marveling once again at the detail put into SAO, Kirito wondered what it would've been like if Akihiko had never started the Death Game.

Just before he fell asleep, he felt Asuna reach down, doubtlessly searching for comfort. Wordlessly, he gripped her hand as he drifted off to sleep.


	11. Lost

**A/N: Well, this is the next chapter of the story, and the beginning of Asuna's recovery from the events of last chapter. Similarly to cannon, Sachi will die in this story, but for a very different purpose. I always hated how the Moonlit Black Cats basically died as a reason for Kirito to remain a solo player, which he was perfectly content with in the first place. Thus, in this story, their deaths will serve a much greater purpose (In my opinion) to provide Asuna with a catalyst for recovery and to provide her with a reason to fight. I feel that this way, Asuna has a much stronger reason to fight compared to the early stages of the anime. Anyways, this was a slightly shorter introductory chapter which leads into the next one, so stay tuned for more! Please leave a review about how you feel about this one!**

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**Disclaimer: Don't own anything except my own plot etc, etc.**

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Chapter 10: Lost

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+131_**

As usual, Kirito's eyes snapped open at precisely five in the morning. Glancing at the same surroundings, he sat up soundlessly. Like always, he extricated his hand from Asuna's and flipped through his inventory for a few seconds, taking stock of his supplies.

Getting up from the floor, he took one last glance at a sleeping Asuna before leaving out the door, his sword materializing at his waist as he did so. Ever since the disastrous PK raid on the second floor, Asuna had been unable to even look at her rapier anymore. As a result, he now had the responsibility of keeping them both up to level through the party xp share system.

Striding through the empty town, he headed straight for the floor dungeon. Breakfast was unimportant, and he had plenty of rations for lunch and dinner. He had more important things to worry about.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+131_**

The bright, simulated morning sunshine danced across the room, bringing Asuna out of her slumber. For a moment, she thought she was back at home, in her own bed. Perhaps SAO had just been a long, terrifying dream. Perhaps, she had never k –

That thought brought the game world crashing back into her consciousness as she regained full awareness of her surroundings. A second later, her guilt flowed into her mind as she desperately tried to retreat from it. However, it was impossible to run, and she had nowhere to hide within her own mind. The face of the Pker she killed remained in her mind no matter what she did.

Slowly, she sat up, listlessly glancing out at the sun shining on the beautiful starting town of Floor 6. Despite the unrelenting guilt, Asuna had to admit that Kirito had been right. While it didn't get any easier, she was gradually getting used to carrying its weight. For an entire month after her kill, she'd remained in bed, frozen by the unbearable guilt within her mind. Now, she could at least get up and preform some basic functions of living. Bringing out a loaf of stale bread, Asuna slowly chewed on it as she stared at Kirito's dot on her map.

As usual, she would remain in the inn, staring at the tiny pixels on her map. Being in the same party, her map continuously updated itself to show Kirito's surroundings. Several times, her blood froze as she saw Kirito's dot plunge straight into a mass of enemies so thick, they simply appeared as a red sea covering entire rooms.

At these times, she would grit her teeth, hating herself for being too weak to support him. Her hand would hover above her rapier's icon, trembling as she attempted to gather her nerves and draw the weapon. However, she was always defeated by her own mind. Just looking at the words Iron Rapier turned her limbs to jelly.

With a wordless cry of frustration, Asuna slammed her hands on the table hard enough for the Immortal Object icon to pop into existence.

Why couldn't they all be immortal in this game like the table? Why did some players have to hurt others? Why couldn't SAO just be a normal game? Tears blurred her vision as Asuna fought to regain her composure. She knew that her questions were senseless ramblings, pointless, except for the fact that they distracted her from the question that she'd been asking ever since the second floor.

"Why am I so weak?" Head bowed, Asuna tried to find her answer. She knew it was the key to moving on, yet no matter how hard she thought about it, no answer came.

Why was she so weak? Her actions had been perfectly justifiable. She was defending herself and Kirito. She'd prevented the Pker from harming any other players. She'd given some peace to those that the Pker had already killed. Why couldn't she be as strong as Kirito? He'd moved on the very next day, trying to comfort and support her as she drowned in her guilt and self-loathing. She'd always been better than those around her. Why couldn't she beat Kirito in this aspect? Yet no matter how much she tried to convince herself to move on, Asuna found that the Pker's terrified face would always drag her back to the starting point.

As she was going through her daily interrogation session, Asuna found herself enjoying the scents drifting in through her window. With the enticing smells of the market filling her nose, Asuna found a burst of strength fill her limbs.

"That's it!" For the first time in months, Asuna found herself driven by a purpose.

Equipping some casual clothing, she headed outside to the market.

"I can't help Kirito-kun fight yet, I'll only be a liability when I freeze up again. However, I can still help him in other ways! Stale bread and jerky might have a very long storage time, but it tastes horrible! I can give him some alternatives and provide buffs to his combat ability at the same time!" With her plan made up, Asuna left the inn confidently. Like Kirito, she now had a job, and she promised herself that it would be the first step on her journey to the front lines.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Marketplace. D+131_**

Humming softly to herself, Asuna leisurely walked down the central road of Floor 6's Safe Town. Fortunately, she still had quite a significant amount of col from the starting floors; otherwise, her plan would've ended before she'd even left the inn.

Selecting another ingredient, Asuna realized that she was enjoying herself for the first time in months. Smiling slightly, she backed up, waving at the NPC shopkeeper before blushing in embarrassment. What was the point when the NPC was an AI with pre-programmed behaviors and dialogue lines?

To her surprise, the NPC actually smiled and waved back. Turning to head back to the inn, Asuna found herself marveling at the sheer amount of detail and realism housed within SAO's programming. It seemed impossible for Akihiko to have programmed it all by himself, no matter how intelligent he was.

Lost in relatively pleasant thoughts for the first time in months, Asuna had no warning as she suddenly collided with another player. With a deafening clatter, the pile of armor, shields, and weaponry carried by the other person tumbled to the ground.

"O-ow" she muttered as she gingerly staggered to her feet again. Realizing what had happened, she immediately turned to the person she'd accidentally collided with. "A-ah, sorry about that."

Looking down, she found herself face to face with the bright green eyes of a girl with shoulder-length black hair.

Wincing slightly, the other girl shyly took Asuna's hand and pulled herself up. "N-no problem, I wasn't watching where I was going either." More out of habit than necessity, she brushed herself off before reaching down for the pieces of equipment on the ground.

Embarrassed about her blunder, Asuna quickly moved to help her. Soon, all of the pieces were safely within the shorter girl's arms.

"Why are you manually carrying all of those items?" With the problem out of the way, Asuna found her natural curiosity rising to the surface. "Is your inventory overburdened?"

"Inventory? What's that?" The other girl tilted her head in confusion.

Asuna was surprised. She'd thought she was the one who'd started off the worst, but the girl in front of her didn't even know about her inventory!

"It's where you can store your items when you don't need them. See?"

To demonstrate, Asuna brought down her menu, and showed the girl where the inventory was. Materializing an item, Asuna brought it forwards to show the other girl how the inventory functioned.

By sheer habit, Asuna found herself holding the familiar weight of her old rapier. Forcibly holding back a scream of terror as her old nightmares returned, Asuna swiftly returned it to her inventory.

The other girl didn't notice; as she was too busy marveling at her own inventory. "Ah, so that's what Ducker kept on mumbling about! I was wondering why my guild mates kept looking at me so weirdly!" Giggling softly in embarrassment, she experimented with putting items in and out of her storage.

Turning back to Asuna, the shy girl's eyes were alive with excitement. "Ne, could you come along and give us some pointers? I bet you've got a lot more to teach us about this floor!"

Embarrassed, Asuna took a step back. "N-no, it was just your inventory! What makes you think that I know more than you?"

Shaking her head, the other girl forged onwards, her previous shyness forgotten. "We just got to this floor a few hours ago. I bet a veteran like you knows a lot more than us about fighting!"

Asuna hesitated, tempted to head back to the inn. However, something about the other girl's pleading gaze made her reconsider. Glancing at the clock, Asuna made up her mind. It was only slightly past noon, and Kirito wouldn't start heading back until late at night. She might as well pass on as much as possible to help others. It might make the difference between life and death in the future.

"Alright fine, though I warn you, I can't actually fight right now with my weapon. Something happened in my last raid and I haven't fully gotten over it yet." Asuna tried to warn her new companion about her condition.

Unfazed, the other girl shook her head again. "That doesn't matter, as long as you can teach us, we'll be thankful!"

With her last worry lifted, Asuna smiled slightly. "Alright then, I'll come along for a while. By the way, you can call me Asuna."

The other girl grinned, as well. "You can call me Sachi."


	12. Confronting Shadows

**A/N: Hello all, and sorry for the wait! My AP tests started on the first day with Chemistry, and ended with Macroeconomics, resulting in a massively drawn out bit of testing. However, I'm all finished with those now, so updates should start to trickle in again. Now, I know that I talked about killing off the Black Cats like in the cannon storyline, but I've realized that doing so would have been worse than counterproductive to Asuna's mental state. Thinking back on it, I have no idea how watching her friends die would've possibly been good for her. That's why I'm keeping them alive (at least for now). Once again, please leave behind a review about how you feel this chapter went! Your reviews are why I write!**

** Disclaimer: Don't own anything here**

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Chapter 11: Confronting Shadows

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151_**

He was close. Very close. Here, he was in his element. Combat was his element, and he thrived upon it. Gliding forward, Kirito inched closer toward his goal. Silently, suddenly, a short knife slid into his hand. Keeping an eye on his the group a few hundred meters away, Kirito's knife went up and around as he flung it at the unfortunate Bandit in front of him. The only warning the bandit had was a slight hissing noise before it simply ceased to exist, victim of a perfect, unguided critical hit straight into its spinal column.

Straightening from his crouch, Kirito noted yet another critical area for Aincrad's humanoid mobs.

"Wow! How did you do that? I didn't even see that sword skill's glow!"

Kirito shifted uncomfortably as he turned to face the leader of the group calling themselves the Moonlit Black Cats. While he was very thankful for their influence on Asuna, Kirito found their near worship of his abilities extremely disconcerting and uncomfortable.

Taking a moment to recall the speaker's name, Kirito tried to explain the process behind his attacks. "Honestly, it's not that much. As I've mentioned before, using Sword Skills in the later stages of the game is more detrimental than helpful. Instead, you just have to recognize and target the different critical points on the mob you're attacking with regular hits."

Unfortunately, it was not enough to satisfy the energetic leader of the Black Cats, and Kirito was soon swarmed by the rest of the group; each seeking tips to improve their own combat performances.

Struggling to maintain his composure and dignity, Kirito's eyes gazed wildly around him for an escape route. Finding none, his eyes locked onto Asuna as he tried to mentally convey his plea to her. _Help me!_

All activity stopped and everyone turned to stare at Asuna as she burst into laughter. For Kirito, it had been months since he'd seen her so carefree. For the rest of the group, it was the first time they'd seen her do more than smile.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151_**

"Ah, sorry, i-it's just that Kirito-kun looked so lost when you were crowding around him! It's the most flustered I'd ever seen him get!" Her laughter died down as she noticed everyone staring at her. "W-what? "

"You just laughed. You just laughed!" Ducker, the scout of the group, gave a cheer as he continued to look at her in delight. "After being serious for so long, I'd begun to think that you were physically incapable of laughing!"

Asuna blushed as she tried to defend herself. "I'm perfectly capable of laughing!" seeing everyone's incredulous stares, she turned to Kirito for support. "Tell them! I've laughed plenty of times!"

Kirito merely shrugged innocently. "I am not at liberty to divulge that information."

Asuna's hand itched to reach for the rapier safely stowed in her inventory. "Hmph!" Struggling to salvage what pride she had left, Asuna rose to her feet and began to walk back to the inn.

"And where are you going? We still have an hour to burn before heading back!"

Realizing that Kirito was right, Asuna spun around to see his eyes gleaming with suppressed humor.

Thinking desperately, Asuna blurted out the first excuse that came to her mind. "I-I'm not going back! I've just been too bored sitting here, so I want to do some leveling as well!"

Noticing an inconsistency, Ducker opened his mouth to ask how Asuna had been feeling bored when she had been laughing a few minutes ago. However, Kirito beat him to it. Just as the question left his mouth, the wind was knocked out of him as an elbow suddenly jabbed itself into his gut.

Pretending that he hadn't just elbowed Ducker, Kirito casually spoke out again. "And how do you plan on farming these mobs? By strangling them with your bare hands? You're more violent than I thought."

Asuna cursed herself as she realized how she'd been neatly driven into a corner. Recently, as she slowly regained her shattered confidence, she had been trying to stay out of combat, fearing a relapse from the suppressed emotions tied with her rapier.

Not for the first time, Asuna found herself marveling at Kirito's ability to exploit even the slightest mistakes. She'd seen it countless times before in Kirito's physical duels and battles, but his verbal dueling skills were just as deadly. However, all the admiration in the world wouldn't save her from her current predicament, as her thoughts and pride struggled against each other.

It didn't take long before her pride won out, and Asuna slowly reached for her inventory menu with trembling hands. Hesitating briefly above her rapier's icon, Asuna took a deep breath and tapped the button. _What could possibly go wrong? It's been a long time since that event._

As the blade landed in Asuna's waiting palm, a brief flash of panic flashed through her eyes, before it was replaced by determination. Her eyes flickered up to meet Kirito's gaze challengingly.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151_**

Pride coursed through him as Kirito watched Asuna pressing the limits of her mental endurance. He'd taken a gamble when he goaded her to take up arms again, and it appeared that his gamble had paid off.

Carefully wiping all vestiges of pride and happiness off his face, Kirito swept his arms back in a mocking gesture. "Congratulations on equipping your weapon! You're free to farm all the mobs you want in this field right now!"

Kirito's heart clenched as panic spread across Asuna's face again. For a moment, he wondered if it would be best to retract his statements and call it a victory for the day. However, he discarded the notion immediately. Asuna would not thank him for taking pity on her, and Kirito had full confidence that Asuna was ready to return to the front lines again. He only needed to make Asuna realize it as well.

Keeping still, Kirito watched as Asuna determinedly marched up to a bandit. Asuna's rapier glowed faintly as she moved to the first position of her standard sword skill barrage. Then, it was out of Asuna's hands as the system took over, guiding her strikes onto target, causing the bandit to howl in pain and rage.

As the mob turned around, Asuna hesitated for a split second, obviously recalling the face of the PKer she'd killed. The hesitation was all that the bandit needed to kick Asuna away and gain the upper hand.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151_**

Landing painfully on her back, Asuna saw Ducker run forward to help, only to be stopped by Kirito. Silently, she thanked both of them. While Ducker's intentions were good, Asuna realized that she needed to confront her own ghosts by herself.

Clutching the rapier in her hand, Asuna quickly scrambled to her feet. Instantly, she was rolling away from the bandit's strike as it came down from above. Backpedaling to gain some breathing space, Asuna tried to calm her breathing down. Regaining her stance, Asuna's blade glowed with energy as she targeted the bandit with the next sword skill in her sequence. Again, the bandit's face morphed into the face of the player she killed, and Asuna hesitated, desperately trying not to scream and throw her weapon away.

Asuna was unable to fight back as her hesitation allowed the bandit to get in close, crowding her and preventing her from starting the chain of lightning-quick, piercing attacks on her enemy. Narrowly avoiding the deadly blade, Asuna stumbled back. Blindly, she swung out again, parrying another strike more by luck than skill.

Jumping backwards again, Asuna prepared to defend herself again from the bandit's onslaught. It never came, as her lack of action caused the mob to loose agro. Instead, the bandit's programming directed it to what the system deemed as a higher priority threat in the party.

That target just happened to be Ducker, who had drawn his knife out in his initial rush to help Asuna. Unfortunately for him, the bandit was the last thing on Ducker's mind as he was arguing furiously with Kirito about staying back from the fight.

Kirito, being distracted by the argument as well, saw the incoming danger too late. Nevertheless, he reached out, shoving the smaller boy aside.

Asuna could only watch in horror as the bandit's blade descended. Kirito's movement had been too little, too late, and the bandit's blade was on its way to bisecting Ducker in half.

Again, the image of the PKer she'd killed flashed before her eyes. But this time, Asuna felt no fear, no pity, no guilt.

How _dare_ he attack her friends? Why should _she _feel guilty about _his _death? He'd been trying to kill her for god's sake! Now, he was trying to kill _her _friends!

Taking off at a full sprint, Asuna felt her veins bubbling with anger; her rapier glowed with righteous anger as she brought her arm back. This time, there was no hesitation as her blade pierced the bandit's throat. Again, her blade flashed through the air, skewering the bandit's torso before the game had even registered her first hit. In moments, the bandit was floating through the air, shattered polygons shimmering one last time in the setting sun's rays.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+151_**

"You know, I never expected you to get over your ordeal so suddenly." Kirito was still marveling at Asuna's performance during the day. Lying down on the floor, Kirito went over his usual nighttime ritual of checking his weapons and placing them in easily accessible locations around him.

Asuna's reply came quickly. "I just found my reason for killing him. By the way, you were right about it not getting easier. But at least I can look back on my actions without regrets now. Anyways, you should get some sleep. I want to catch up to the clearing group as soon as possible."

Satisfied, Kirito laid back and closed his eyes. However, one issue still bothered him. Opening his eyes again, he talked into the darkness. "I should apologize for the past months as well."

"Hmm?" A dark silhouette rose from the bed and gazed down at him.

"Right after that… incident, I sort of left you by yourself. At the time, I thought it would be best for you to work through it by yourself. However, I can see that I was wrong by looking at how you've changed in the past weeks."

A soft laugh came from Asuna. "Oh, that's what you're worried about now? It's fine. You did what you felt was best for me at the time, and that's what matters. Now, get some sleep, we're going to start early tomorrow."

**_Kirito, Unknown Location. ?. D+?_**

Around him, the world was pure darkness. A rapid, urgent whine filled his ears as Kirito tried fruitlessly to gather his bearings. Forcing his eyes open, Kirito found himself staring up at Asuna's worried face.

"Come on! Get up! This boss is nearly impossible to kill! We're retreating for now!"

Staggering to his feet, Kirito made enough sense of Asuna's words to grab her hand and run for the exit. Strangely, the entrance to the boss room was a blinding white, more like a portal than a door. However, Kirito didn't give it any thought as he leapt through, landing heavily onto the ground.

Smoke washed around him as he got to his feet again. However, his period of rest was short as screams rose up from the group. Beside him, Asuna's eyes were wide in terror as she gazed at something behind him.

"Impossible! The boss never leaves the boss room!"

Kirito spun around as he felt a presence behind him. He could only gaze in horror at the "boss" as everyone around him ran away in panic.

Leaping away, Kirito just managed to avoid the massive shockwave of the eight-foot hammer as it smashed into the ground where he'd been standing. Automatically, his hand reached for his weapon. He was too late, as a massive, gorilla-like hand wrapped itself around his throat, lifting him with the strength of a Spartan from the ground.

Instead of fighting as he normally would, Kirito was frozen in place by the horrifyingly familiar ape-like head of a Jiralhanae Chieftain before him.

"Demon! Embrace your fate, and rest within my tomb!"

Kirito felt physically sick as his nose discovered the stench of rotting flesh, repurposed for use long after the original owners had died. Hopelessly, he could only relive the subjects of his nightmares as two infection forms slithered out of the portal.

"Interesting! Simply fascinating!"

Kirito's head snapped around to see a _monitor_ of all things, floating beside him.

Gritting his teeth, Kirito tried to get the forerunner AI's attention.

"C-Can you not see the Flood infestation? Do your job and contain it!" Kirito hissed out of clenched teeth.

"Amazing! To think that such a trove of inspiration exists within the mind!" the AI continued to ramble on, paying no attention to Kirito.

Immobilized by the Brute, Kirito cringed when he felt the cold flesh of an infection form climbing up onto his head. The feelers of the infection form brushed against his scalp, and a cold spike reached down to rest above his spinal cord.

Across from him, the second Flood form was doing the same to the Brute, though the Jiralhanae leader seemed to welcome the carrier.

Gritting his teeth, Kirito used all of his strength to yell at the AI. "Hey Lightbulb! Pull your damn head out of rampancy and do what you were programmed to do! There's a flood outbreak occurring right in front of you! Contain it!"

As the monitor turned to face him, the infection form stabbed the spike into his neck. Through his fading vision, Kirito could see the single, sinister red "eye" of the forerunner AI.

"Ah, but I am doing what I was programmed to do. I am gathering ideas for the next rounds! Is that not right, Subject A-00103?"

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+152_**

Kirito sat up with a jolt, In his hand, the gleaming blade of a short dagger was positioned ready for stabbing or blocking, whichever came first.

Kirito's eyes scanned wildly around the room, searching for an intruder; his heart pounded in his chest, while adrenaline sped through his veins. Even with the reaction times of a Spartan, Kirito only managed to catch a glimpse of a glowing gold diamond as it disappeared. The diamond withdrew immediately upon Kirito's awakening, fast enough to be discounted as a trick of his mind. However, Kirito could've sworn that he saw the diamond flash red right at the very end.


	13. The Winter War

**A/N: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Yes, I know. I'm a total ass for not uploading for as long as I did, but I have reasons! First was graduation, then I had to move, then I had to finalize my college plans, and a ton of other things! (Alright, I'll admit it, it was mainly writers' block.) Anyway, Thank you all for your awesome support. and apologies for everyone for dropping off the radar so suddenly! Also, I'd be thankful if anyone knows how to add in the less than and greater than signs to the story, since HTML doesn't like using them. Anyway, please tell me what you think of this chapter!**

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Chapter 12: The Winter War

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 7. Abandoned District. D+162_**

"Alright! Floor seven, here I come!" Cheering wildly, the male members of the Black Cats rushed past Kirito and leapt on the nearest mobs.

"Boys," Asuna chuckled as she followed them at a more sedate pace.

Beside her, Sachi smiled slightly as well. "Not all of them. Kirito-san is still here as well."

Hearing his name, Kirito looked up from his menu. "Hmm? Did somebody call my name?"

Seeing Asuna and Sachi laughing, Kirito wondered what was so funny. "Girls," he muttered, turning back to his menu.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Field HQ. D+162_**

"Ah, long time no see, Kirito-san, Asuna-san. I'm glad that you could make it. "

Diabel seemed genuinely glad as Kirito and Asuna walked into the floor meeting for the 9th floor boss.

Kirito shrugged, "Well? What's so special about this boss? I thought the first raid had already cleared it two days ago." Even as he asked, he knew that it was not the case. All the members of the raid seemed dead to the world, with despair written clearly across their faces.

Diabel shook his head grimly. "That raid started with disaster and ended in it as well. Going in, we were already woefully unprepared, as our scouts had all failed to report back. After half an hour, it became clear that none were returning." Diabel looked at the ground bitterly, "We should've retreated then. But we decided to proceed anyway." Looking back up, he gritted his teeth. "The boss room was a damn forest. We never even saw what the boss was. At first, we'd thought the scouts had already cleared the floor and moved to the next level, but then our party members simply started dying."

Diabel's hands shook as he stared straight at Kirito. "The boss was using a _fucking gun!_ In a sword game!"

For the first time since he'd entered the game, Kirito felt a flicker of concern. "That can't be right, Kayaba might be a bastard, but even he wouldn't design a game that was unbeatable. It just isn't his style."

Diabel glared at Kirito, "Tell that to the five who died!" he snarled.

Quickly, Kirito held up a pacifying hand. "I believe you; it's pretty hard to mistake the sound of a gun. I'm just trying to retrace Akihiko's thought process when he designed this boss. Akihiko is many things, but he'd never create something that was entirely unbeatable."

Kirito realized that he might've said too much as suspicion rippled through the assembled group.

"And how are you so sure about that, Kirito-san? How do you know Akihiko that well?" Even Diabel was looking at him suspiciously.

Kirito hesitated briefly, knowing that the truth would be entirely unbelievable for the people gathered. Also, he had no desire to 'take care' of the information breach that would inevitably result. Processing all considerations in fractions of a second, Kirito pulled up his player menu.

"Knowing your enemy is half the battle. I started research on Akihiko the moment SAO ceased to be a game. From what I've learned, I know that Akihiko will never create an unbeatable level. Otherwise, he would've just vaporized our brains the moment the game started."

Across the room, one of the raid members sneered. "So you seek to understand the actions of a madman?"

Kirito glanced at the speaker, "Akihiko is many things, but he is definitely not mad. His actions all seem to have a specific purpose."

Not quite convinced, another speaker shouted out, "What might that purpose be?"

Kirito shook his head, "I'm not completely sure. I have some theories, but at this point, I do not have enough information to state them with any degree of certainty."

"Alright guys, enough with the interrogation!" Diabel clapped his hands together to regain everyone's attention. "I called you all here to decide what to do with this boss and we're going to find a way today, or nobody is going home!"

Kirito glanced at Diabel again, "That might not be needed. I feel like I might know how to beat this boss already. Before I explain my idea, I'm going to know what type of terrain the boss room is."

Diabel frowned, "I already told you, it's a forest."

"No Diabel-san, I meant the general terrain coloring. Is it snowing? Or is the ground uncovered? Is the ground covered in leaves or pine needles?" Kirito's quick questions caught Diabel off-guard.

"Oh, err, the boss room was snowing when we entered it. The ground was completely white."

Kirito nodded his thanks, "Alright then, Asuna and I'll go deal with this boss. The rest of you can just sit tight and wait."

His statement was met with a wall of outrage, as everyone voiced their objections.

"That's outrageous!"

"The boss beat an entire raid! There's no way two of you can take it out!"

"You beater! You just want all the credit for yourselves!"

Asuna was no different, as her voice raised an octave in disbelief. "Just two of us, beating a boss?! Are you crazy?"

Kirito simply waited for the shouting to die down before he replied, "Judging from the information you gave me, this boss is practically tailor-made to combat large raid groups. It's a trivial matter to spot a small army marching through the woods, and having a ranged attack while in cover will make it practically impossible for any of you to find and kill him. A single team has a much better chance of sneaking in undetected, and eliminating the boss."

Slowly, the rest of the group nodded, seeing the logic behind Kirito's words. "I'll give you two hours, if you aren't out by that time, I'll start sending more teams in."

Kirito was already shaking his head to Diabel's words. "How large is this room again?" he asked.

"We don't know, although I'd estimate it to be around a circular room a kilometer wide." Diabel said.

Kirito nodded, noting the information down. "I'll need much longer to spot and eliminate the boss while remaining undetected myself. If you start sending people in too early, I could easily eliminate them instead of the boss. Give me four days before you start sending others in, and make sure to send the teams in separately as well."

Diabel hesitated, and then finally consented to Kirito's plan. "We'll escort you to the boss room then. If you aren't out in four days, I'll lead a team in myself."

Kirito smiled grimly, "Give me an hour to prepare and teach Asuna the basics to stealth. Then I'll make sure this boss is dead within the week."

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Dungeon. D+162_**

Kirito felt his temper rise as he heard another snicker behind him. Spinning around, his glare was more than enough to silence the offending player.

"I don't get it, do I really stand out that much?" he muttered. His hostile gaze swept through the group, daring anyone to make a comment.

"I don't know Kirito-san, you certainly look… unique in that." Even Diabel was having trouble hiding his smile.

Asuna smiled as well, giggling as she cast another glance at Kirito. "I don't know, Diabel-san, I think Kirito-kun looks quite pretty."

Kirito's eyes turned towards the ceiling, desperately searching for his last vestiges of patience. "Even you? Asuna? I'd thought that you of all people would at least understand."

Asuna's laughter only increased at Kirito's words, causing him to flush as he realized what he'd just implied.

"ah, I am being understanding. Ha- whatever you decide to do, I'll remain supportive." Any further speech was interrupted as she broke out into uncontrollable giggles.

Kirito glared at her half-heartedly. "Do I really look that weird?" he asked.

Diabel cut in for Asuna, seeing her laughing too much to talk. "You're wearing a dress." He helpfully remarked. "A white one. For a wedding."

Kirito growled, "I told you guys, it was the most effective at disrupting my form in a field of snow!" He thought for a moment, before continuing. "Also, it's more of a toga than a dress."

"I don't know about disrupting your form," Diabel no longer tried to hide his grin, as he openly laughed at Kirito's predicament. "Well? Who's the unlucky guy?"

Kirito's scathing reply would forever remain unsaid, as they finally arrived at the entrance to the boss room.

All light-hearted conversation died out, as they all stared at the imposing doors. Diabel's face regained his seriousness as he turned back to Kirito. "Well, good luck to you. I'll be praying to see you a few days from now. If you ever need help, send me a PM. We'll be camped out here waiting for you."

Kirito nodded, glancing at the ingame clock. "Perfect timing, Asuna and I'll enter now under the cover of darkness. If we need anything, we'll give you a call."

Walking up to the door, Kirito motioned for Asuna to follow. Slowly, he opened a tiny crack in the door, slipping through it soundlessly. Behind him, Asuna soon followed.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Boss Room. D+162_**

As soon as he was through, Kirito smoothly went down onto the ground, rolling behind a fallen tree. Beside him, Asuna copied his actions, with less grace. Kirito winced as Asuna's motion cracked a branch beside him. The ringing retort of the stick sounded like a gunshot in the silence of the woods.

Carefully, he looked out beyond the fallen trunk.

"Stay here, until I tell you to move up. Remember, staying still is your best chance of not being spotted." Checking his surroundings, Kirito ghosted around the trunk, gliding behind a bush a few feet away.

Scanning into the forest, Kirito turned and gestured for Asuna to follow.

Again, he winced as Asuna seemed to make it her deliberate goal to make as much noise as possible. For the second time in five minutes, Kirito wondered if it would've been better for him to enter alone. Almost immediately, he discarded the thought. While it would've been much easier and safer to traverse the terrain, he still had to find and kill the boss. Somehow, he doubted that the boss would be as weak as a jackal sharpshooter.

Behind him, Asuna spoke in what must've sounded like a whisper. To Kirito, it sounded more like a shout. "Well? Do you see anything?"

Kirito glanced at her sarcastically. "Actually I do. Between those trees over there. It's a fat old man wearing a red suit and hat. He's sitting on a sleigh pulled by reindeer and has a sack of presents for all the good little children."

Asuna huffed indignantly. "No need to get so sarcastic. I was just trying to see what I can do."

Kirito was already moving, smoothly continuing on to the right. Assuming that the boss knew exactly when players entered, they needed to get away from the entrance as soon as possible. After that, they could afford to rest until dawn, when the visibility would be more suitable for him to search for the boss.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Boss Room. D+163_**

They were moving an hour before dawn. Running through the procedure with Asuna one last time, Kirito carefully moved out of the cover offered by the bush which had sheltered him for the previous few hours.

A few seconds later, he was already in cover again, protected by the bulk of a tree trunk. Glancing back, he made sure Asuna was well camouflaged in the shrubbery, her hair completely covered by the hat he'd bought her the day before.

Nodding in satisfaction, Kirito turned his attention back to the problem at hand. Slowly, Kirito scanned through the forest around him, searching for anything that could lead him to the boss. Hard edges which could signify a man-made landmark, the slightest sign of movement, and the glint of early morning sun reflecting off a scope or even the metal portions of a rifle. Nothing.

The lack of his target did nothing to help Kirito's nerves. Just because he couldn't see his enemy didn't mean that his enemy couldn't see him. However, sitting still wouldn't get him anywhere, and Kirito slowly crawled out of his cover. An agonizing minute later, he'd inched over to the next piece of cover.

Manipulating his inventory, he produced another hat, which he pushed over the tree with a stick. Nothing. Slowly, he peeked out over the edge, scanning the terrain around him. Not seeing anything, he sent the pre-typed PM to Asuna. _CLEAR_.

Ignoring the sounds of his partner crashing through the woods, Kirito sighed to himself. It was going to be a long day.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Boss Room. D+163_**

Moving to the next piece of cover, Kirito froze in place. A sixth sense told him something was different from the hundreds of times he'd moved before. Something was wrong.

Kirito burst into action, pushing himself off the ground and diving behind the nearest tree just a bullet kicked up a puff of snow where he'd been a moment before. Milliseconds later, the crack of a rifle filled the forest.

Cursing, he glanced back at where Asuna's hiding spot to see her with her hands over her mouth, eyes wide in shock and terror. Silently, he applauded her self-discipline for not screaming. As of this moment, the boss would only know about him, not of his partner.

Unsheathing a dagger, Kirito slid the polished blade around the trunk. With his position compromised, there was no further point to hiding reflective surfaces. The boss knew where he was anyway.

Recalling the puff of snow, it took only a few seconds for Kirito to approximate the boss' location. A few twists of his wrist later, and Kirito had a distorted image of the boss in the blade of his dagger.

Two bars of health compared to the usual four, the boss was a small figure with the name The White Death. Sitting behind a tree, the boss' rifle was leveled directly at him.

Kirito bit off a yelp as the rifle cracked again, instantly overwhelming his dagger's durability bar, shattering it in his hands. Putting his head against the tree, Kirito considered his options. He had two daggers; with one broken, he could try to hit the boss with his second one. Immediately, he discarded the thought. His best chance of eliminating the boss was at close quarters, and he shuddered at the thought of using an unwieldy sword at the ranges where the boss' rifle would be ineffective.

Instead, Kirito slowly stood up and gathered his thoughts. Signaling Asuna to stay where she was, he took a deep breath and stepped away from the cover provided by the thick trunk.

Time slowed, as he caught his first clear glance at the boss. Spartan Time. The flash of the rifle seemed to take ages, and Kirito easily ducked under the first shot.

_One._

Sprinting forwards, he ducked behind another tree just as the second shot whistled by.

_Two._

Not even pausing to catch his breath, he ducked back around the side he came, sliding around in front of the tree in a 180 degree turn.

Expecting his target to pop out the other direction, the boss looked quite stupid as his shot whistled past the wrong side of the tree while Kirito practically taunted him by providing a clear target of himself while running on the wrong side of cover. However, the target window was far too short for the boss to reload, and the fourth shot missed Kirito by millimeters as he ducked back behind another tree.

Knowing that he couldn't pause for his plan to work, he ducked out of cover yet again. Forcing himself to the ground, Kirito heard the whizz of the last round as it flew harmlessly past his head.

Immediately after, he pushed himself back up and accelerated to a sprint. This time, he headed right at the boss, ignoring all cover. He no longer needed it as he closed the distance. The boss would be unable to fire again for a second until the rifle was reloaded.

That second was all Kirito needed as he kicked the rifle and ammunition out of the boss' hands. At the same time, he drew his last dagger and slashed it across the throat of The White Death. The boss was sent stumbling back, its first health bar reduced to half.

"Kirito!"

Hearing Asuna shout, he ducked just in time to avoid her flurry of strikes.

Giving the boss another slash across the ankles, Kirito rolled out of Asuna's way, glancing at the boss' health as he did so.

The feeling of triumph rose as Kirito saw the first bar drop completely. With the boss being so weak to combat and separated from its weapon, the battle was already decided.

Tossing his dagger into the boss' eye, Kirito drew his sword, just as Asuna kicked the boss away from her.

Taking advantage of the opportunity Asuna's kick gave him, Kirito stabbed downwards. The last of the boss' health drained to zero before it shattered, leaving only a floating white window.

Congratulations!

Kirito smiled wearily at Asuna, surprised at how tired he felt. Reflecting on his actions during combat, Kirito concluded that 17 years of life as a 'civilian' hadn't done anything to keep his edge as a Spartan.

Slowly, the congratulatory sign faded, to be replaced by a list of the loot dropped by the boss. Kirito felt a twinge of disappointment as he realized that there were only three drops. His sigh of resignation was replaced by a gasp of astonishment. The first two were unremarkable, an agility based robe and ring. They'd both go to Asuna. What caught his attention was the bottom item.

Mosin-Nagant M28/30

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 9. Boss Room. D+163_**

As the two reached the entrance to the boss room, Kirito turned to Asuna. "One final thing."

Opening his menu, he re-equipped his old equipment before tearing apart the dress he'd previously been wearing. Pointing at the rags he looked at Asuna.

"That never happened."

Asuna giggled, "I was hoping you'd forget about that. I thought Kirito-kun looked quite cute that way."

Kirito glared at her.

"Not a chance." He said.

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**A/N: Alright, you knew it was going to happen. In fact, I can't imagine any Halo crossover fic ****_without_**** a gun. It's Halo for god's sake, Aliens and giant weapons of mass destruction are what drives the whole plot (Hint hint). However, I'd like to say that Kirito's newest toy won't give him instant win status. After all, I felt that I highlighted some of the shortcomings of bolt-action WWII era rifles pretty well. They might be deadly at range, but in close quarters, you simply don't have the agility, clip size, or rate of fire to take on your enemies effectively. Since SAO is still primarily a sword game, you can bet that close quarters is where Kirito will be doing most of the fighting. Also, rounds are limited since, once again, SAO is a sword game. No mob will randomly drop bullets for Kirito's convenience. In fact, he'll have to craft every round he fires (The reason for all the gathering at the start of this fic, though Kirito had initially been planning to make his own rifle with the materials at hand). Moving on from the explanation for Kirito's latest weapon, the boss in this chapter is based off the Finnish soldier Simo Hayha. Total badass in the Finnish Winter war, he has the most kills ever recorded by any sniper up to the present day. Anyway, I hope that this extra-long chapter made up for the insane update time (Not likely) and please leave your review about what you think!**


	14. Transitions

**A/N: Bit of a short chapter this time. The main purpose was to transition to the next events, which will deal with Kirito's past and his changing relationship with Asuna. Also, next week will be quite hectic with college registration, so it might be two weeks before the next update (Unless I can pump it out before July 4). Anyways, hope you guys like this new chapter, and please leave a review!**

**Also, normal disclaimers apply for this chapter, and all previous chapters where I may or may not have forgotten to put them.**

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Chapter 13: Transitions

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor Inn. D+163_**

Entering the inn on the seventh floor's starting town, Kirito and Asuna were totally unprepared for what awaited them.

Having just finished a 24 hour battle with the deadliest boss ever seen in SAO, the two companions were completely exhausted. Unfortunately, it appeared that sleep would have to wait.

"Well, look who decided to come back!" Keita stood before them, flanked by the rest of the Black Cats. "We were wondering why your latest PM would ever tell us to cut communications with you two for four days. Would you like to elaborate?"

Kirito hesitated for a moment, it would be a bad idea to state the truth, as it would spur the Black Cats to take greater risks in their efforts to catch up with their image of the 'clearing group'. After a second of mental deliberation, Kirito replied with the standard, "I am not at liberty to discuss what we may or may not have been doing for the past days."

It was more than likely that the Black Cats already knew what they had been doing, but Kirito had long learned to at least try the easy way out first. You'd never know when you'd be pleasantly surprised.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the easy way would not work as Sachi decided to speak up.

"You know, it just so happened that a certain floor boss was defeated today, and there were rumors that this boss was killed by a tiny party of only two people." Sachi smiled a terrifyingly blank smile, daring either Kirito or Asuna to contradict her.

Asuna laughed nervously, "ah, really? Wow, that's really strange! I guess they're just rumors right?"

Sachi continued to smile blankly, "I guess they aren't that important. You two must be tired. I'm guessing you haven't slept very well for these past two days?"

Asuna nodded in agreement, grateful that Sachi had dropped the matter. "Yeah! You wouldn't believe how exhausting it was! Because of Kirito, I only got a few hours of sleep yesterday!"

The Black Cats leapt on Asuna's slip up, with Ducker being the loudest. "Oh, what were you two doing that kept you up so long?" Ducker's grin widened evilly. "Perhaps you were _relaxing_?"

Asuna blushed furiously at the innuendo, frantically denying Ducker's accusation. "N-no! It's nothing like what' your implying!"

Sachi leapt back into the conversation, relentlessly hammering on Asuna's weakening defenses, "Oh? Where did you get the new outfit?" Sachi's eyes widened as she glanced at Asuna's hand. "Ah! A ring too! Did Kirito-san propose to you? Congratulations!"

Asuna's blush deepened, as she turned to Kirito. "N-Nothing like that happened! Kirito-kun, tell them!"

Kirito sighed, "Your reaction only served to incriminate you even further." Seeing Asuna open her mouth to protest, he quickly addressed the group before them. "Although in all honesty, nothing of the sort happened. As you all probably know, Asuna and I did assault the floor 9 boss alone. No, I do not suggest that anyone try to recreate that feat, as this floor boss was a special case. Any further explanation will have to wait for tomorrow, since I am damn tired, and am in no mood to answer any more questions."

Keita nodded slowly, "As long as you understood how worried we were, I'm willing to postpone this talk to after you've both rested."

Agreeing tiredly, Kirito slowly made his way up the stairs, intent on getting some rest.

Half a step behind him, Asuna followed, apologizing profusely to the Black Cats for worrying them.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor Inn. D+163_**

Sitting down on the bed, Asuna took a glance around the room she shared with Kirito. Completely spent after the boss fight, Kirito had fallen asleep on the floor within seconds of entering the room. Asuna smiled at the scene, reflecting back on their unique sleeping arrangements. Initially, it had been to save money. After the disaster with the PKers, Kirito's presence had become a source of comfort and stability. Now his presence had become a source of companionship and motivation, of support between friends. Asuna had considered splitting their rooms up. She knew it was the sensible option, as it would give Kirito a more comfortable place to sleep instead of the floor. In addition, it would also lessen the rumors that were doubtlessly drifting around SAO's information network. However, Asuna's heart simply could not agree with her mind.

Somehow, Kirito's close proximity had become a sacred tradition for her, something as natural and important as breathing or eating. It was selfish, but Asuna reasoned that if Kirito really cared about the discomfort of sleeping on the floor, he'd bring up the matter himself. No, it would be much better to simply remain silent.

Smiling slightly, Asuna lay down and closed her eyes. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, Sachi's questions floated through her mind, bringing her back to wide-eyed wakefulness.

"Did Kirito-san propose to you?"

No of course he hadn't. They'd have to be dating before that happened. But what exactly was her relationship with Kirito? It wasn't just friendship. Kirito tended to keep his friends at arms' length, constantly maintaining a small, but noticeable distance. However, he seemed to relax when it was just the two of them, allowing Asuna to see a side which she doubted anyone else saw.

Did Kirito consider her more than a friend? Asuna shook that thought away as well; probably not, since he very rarely spoke of his private life and past. While other players also did not like talking of their pasts, Kirito took it to a whole new level. When others would shift uncomfortably and continue talking, Kirito would completely close up, shutting himself out of all further conversation. Even when he'd accidentally let something slip, he would cut the sentence abruptly and either change the topic or stop talking altogether.

Given what she knew about Kirito, Asuna tried to piece it all together. He was a very skilled player, with obvious military background, given his familiarity with combat and strategy. In addition, he was highly secretive and secluded. Never getting too close with anyone, he kept a safe distance between him and all of his friends. Was he a Special Forces operative?

Asuna sat up again; staring at Kirito's sleeping face. If he was, what did that mean for her? He had stuck with her ever since the first week of their ordeal, even when it would've been much more effective to move on alone. What made her so special?

Shaking her head, Asuna lay back down. What had she been thinking? It was impossible for Kirito to be Special Forces. He was far too young in the first place and there would be no reason for the government to take such an interest in a single girl in high school. However, that didn't Asuna's initial question. What had Kirito become to her? What would she do if Kirito suddenly confessed to her? As her eyes drifted shut, Asuna realized that she would not be opposed to the idea at all.


	15. Revealing History

**A/N: Sorry about the long upload time! (Again -.-) You guys are probably all pretty pissed at me right? I know I'd be... I blame college packing, and KnightEstoc's Nightblade Series which is awesome. But anyway, here's the newest chapter for your enjoyment! Also, if you feel that this chapter doesn't make any sense and is full of plot holes, I ask you to stay with me at least until the next chapter. More explanations will come then. If all goes to plan, I'll release the next chapter tomorrow, or the 19th. That way, I can prepare for an official break (yeah, I know... AGAIN...) starting on the 20th, so I can get used to college life before I start uploading again. Anyways, some MAJOR revelations are coming up! Hope you enjoy, and PLEASE leave a review! Reviews are my fuel for writing! (Along with re-watching SAO. and reading SAO Fanfics. Especially Nightblade. Yes. You should all definitely check it out as well.)**

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**Usual Disclaimers Apply**

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Chapter 14: Revealing History

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Cloud City. D+200_**

Kirito couldn't help but gasp as he stepped onto the 15th floor of Aincrad. The entire 'floor' was hovering in the clouds. Gilded towers soared into the sky, reaching for the stars. As Kirito marveled at the architecture, the teleport gate behind him glowed, and the rest of the 14th floor's boss raid stumbled into the town square.

For a moment, everyone simply stared in awe at their surroundings.

However, Kirito felt a twinge of anxiety. The skybox looked… strange. It was a copy of Earth's sky, and yet, it wasn't. Something about it just seemed too perfect. Suddenly, a sense of nostalgia swept over him, as his mind drifted back to his previous life. He'd been doing the same thing when he was being transferred to Reach for the first stages of the SPARTAN program.

Asuna's voice brought him out of the past,

"We should find a place to stay." She murmured, reluctant to break the reverent atmosphere which had fallen over the raid group.

Kirito nodded agreement, tearing his eyes away from the night sky and heading down the road. "Yeah, let's go before all the good inns are taken." Surprised at his rapid change in mood, Asuna lagged behind for a moment before she hurried to catch up.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 10. The Eastern Salient. D+202_**

Kirito grunted as he sat down on one of the many benches lining the snowy street. "So? What's this about an unbeatable quest on the fifteenth floor?"

Beside him, a hooded player copied his actions. "That information is going to cost you."

Sighing, Kirito tossed a bag of col to his temporary companion. If the unrepentant greed wasn't enough to give her identity away, the whiskers on her cheeks clearly marked her as Argo the Rat, Aincrad's best information dealer.

"Ah, I don't think I'll be taking the regular payment for this information. Instead, how about you tell me what you got for the 9th floor boss?"

Slowly, Kirito took back his bag of money and stood up.

"Ah! Wait!" Argo leapt after him. "Fine! The quest starts with the innkeeper of the Noah's Ark inn on the 15th floor."

Kirito paused, tossing the bag of col back to Argo. "Thanks for the information."

Wordlessly, he disappeared into the gathering darkness.

"With how closely you keep the 9th boss drop a secret, you'd think he'd gotten a gun or something." Argo muttered to herself as she turned to leave as well.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 10. Kharkov Inn. D+202_**

The warmth trapped inside washed over him as Kirito entered the inn that he was staying at with Asuna and the Black Cats. Looking around, he saw Asuna cheerfully waving to him from across the room. Cheerful chatter filled his ears as he wove through the crowded area.

"So, what was that meeting about?" Asuna asked.

Sighing, Kirito slumped down into his seat and randomly ordered the first thing he saw. "Apparently, there's an unbeatable quest on the 15th floor. I want to give it a try tomorrow."

"I'm in!" Ducker eagerly raised his hand, practically jumping in his seat with anticipation.

Kirito fixed him with a stern glare. "You aren't even ready to face the 14th floor yet, what makes you think that I'm bringing you with me to the 15th? You'll be leveling up on this floor tomorrow, and I want to see you gain at least three levels by the time I get back."

Ducker groaned as he slumped back, "But it's soo boooring here!"

Keita smiled slightly at his guildmate's antics. "We'll make sure to keep ducker in line for tomorrow and thanks again for taking the time to help us level these past months."

Kirito waved away the Black Cats' thanks. "You're Asuna's friends, and that's reason enough for me to help you guys."

At that moment, his order arrived, and Kirito diverted his full attention to the meal which materialized before him.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Noah's Ark Inn. D+203_**

"I think this is the place." Kirito said, as he stopped before one of the many white marble buildings on the 15th floor.

"Really? That's an ark?" Asuna glanced dubiously at the whitewashed sign hanging in front of the inn. "Looks more like a squid to me."

Kirito glanced at the sign as well, "This is where Argo's information pointed me to, and she's never been wrong before." He hesitated, "I suppose it could be an ark, where the top prongs are the masts."

Asuna glanced sidelong at him. "Really? Then what are the bottom prongs?"

Kirito shrugged, "I don't know, maybe the rudders and propellers?"

Asuna turned to look at him incredulously. "What ark has propellers? Are one of the top prongs smokestacks as well?"

"Well I don't know why they decided to draw a squid to represent an ark! Maybe it's their mascot or something!" Kirito glared at Asuna, annoyed.

Asuna laughed as she opened the door. "Poor Kirito, can't even tell a ship from a squid!" she teased, before going inside.

Grumbling for a moment, Kirito stepped inside.

As he walked up to the innkeeper, Kirito couldn't shake the sense of wrongness which had been nagging at him since he saw the sign. He'd seen that shape before.

"Well? Ya just gunna stand there all day?"

Kirito shook himself out of his thoughts as he realized that he'd been standing in front the innkeeper for several minutes now.

"I'm just a simple adventurer passing through this place, and I want to know if there's anything to do in this place."

What had bothered him so much about that sign?

The innkeeper grinned, "Sure, there's a temple that's been rumored to have been built by a bunch of crazy mages just on the outskirts of the town. However, our legends say that an adventurer must answer this question correctly before we can give ya the location."

Nodding absently to progress the quest script, Kirito didn't realize how much his mind had wandered until it was too late.

"Alright then, When did the Great War start and end?"

"The Human-Covenant War started on Febuary 3rd 2525, and lasted until December 11th 2552. Hostilities ended officially on March 3rd, 2553."

It took a moment before Kirito realized what he had just said.

"Err, Kirito, are you feeling alright?" Asuna looked at him with concern. "World War One started on June-"

Gleeful laughter interrupted her as the innkeeper pointed at Kirito.

"Hehehe! You're the first one to get the right answer! Finally, the legends will come true! The Reclaimer shall lead us all to glory!"

Asuna could only stare in shock, "How did you know to say that as your answer?"

However, Kirito didn't hear a word after the innkeeper's words. Trembling, he stumbled backwards into an empty seat.

"Kirito!"

Asuna's worried shout went unheeded as he placed his head in his hands, desperately trying to make sense of the past few minutes.

He'd travelled to the past. In this time period, the Great War referred to the First World War. Then how did the innkeeper – no. How did Akihiko know about the Human Covenant War?

Kirito's mind was spinning with the implications. Had someone followed him through into the past? Did ONI decide to send backup?

He discarded that thought immediately, ONI was many things, but even they wouldn't intentionally sabotage humanity's chances for survival.

Had an Insurrectionist cell snuck through? That thought was discarded immediately as well. If Insurrectionists actually had infiltrated the past, then their actions would've been far more explosive.

"–rito! Kirito!"

Asuna's worried voice filtered through his shock. Pushing down his worries, Kirito looked up at her and smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just surprised that's all."

Asuna glared at him. "No, you are not fine! You just collapsed a few minutes ago! What happened?"

Kirito tried unsuccessfully to mask his surprise, to him, it had felt like a few seconds.

Cautiously, Kirito stood up and smiled reassuringly at his partner. "I'll tell you on the way to the temple."

Pushing the matter of Akihiko's mysteries aside, Kirito headed outside with Asuna. How Akihiko knew about the Human Covenant War wouldn't help him in his goal, so it was irrelevant.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Cloud City. D+203_**

"Well? What happened?" Asuna demanded.

Kirito started down the street.

"I suppose I should start with - Making sure that nobody is following and eavesdropping on us!" Kirito projected his voice down an alleyway, glaring at a stack of crates piled together.

He heard a muffled yelp, and the top crate jumped slightly, and toppled onto the floor. Innocently, a hooded figure crawled out from inside and turned to walk away.

"Argo." Kirito's voice was dangerously sweet as he easily caught up and grabbed the back of her cloak. "What are you doing?"

"Ahaha," Argo laughed nervously as she twisted around, trying to escape her current predicament. "Y-you see, I thought those crates were out of place, so I crawled in to investigate!"

Slowly, Kirito shook his head. "You really suck at making excuses on the fly don't you?"

"Do not!"

Sighing, Kirito released Argo and sat down on one of the boxes. "Let me guess, you were curious to see how I would beat the supposedly unbeatable quest, so you followed us this morning when we left the inn. You were surprised when I answered the innkeeper's question with an impossible date, but even more shocked when I had my little breakdown back there. Now, you're going to tail me to my next destination, no matter what I tell you, and you're going to get to the bottom of this mystery even if it kills you, right?"

Kirito could feel the triumphant grin on Argo's face as she nodded in confirmation.

Groaning, he glared at the short girl standing in front of him. "Fine, if I explain everything to you, do you promise to do any one thing I tell you to?"

Argo smirked in response and sidled up to him. "Anything you want! Would you like to know Asuna's three sizes? Or would you prefer a more… hands on activity?"

Kirito leaned away carefully, mindful of Asuna's presence as the red-faced girl glared at him.

"Nothing like that." He said hastily, "I'll tell you what I want after I finish explaining. But I want your absolute word that you will follow through with my directions without any exception whatsoever!"

Argo leaned back and pouted, "Fine, I give you my word that I'll follow through with what you tell me to do."

Standing up, Kirito pulled out his map. "Let's start heading towards the temple. I'll explain everything when there are less people around."

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Tibanna Fields. D+203_**

"I suppose the first thing that you should understand is that I was technically born twice, once five hundred years in the future, and another time in the early twentieth century. In short, I came from the future, and was reborn in this time period."

Kirito didn't get a chance to continue as Argo burst out laughing. "Ki-bou! You should know that nobody would believe such a lame story! Such a thing only happens in movies!"

Kirito didn't even break step as he spoke up again. "Sword Art Online will be cleared at 11:43 in the morning of August 21st, 2025 when the hundredth floor was cleared by a raid group of 109 members. In the end, 4372 players will perish, with about half that number being from suicides and lack of experience during the first few months. On the 75th Floor, Akihiko's true identity as a player named Heathcliff will be revealed to the public, and will escape to the top floor, where he was eventually defeated as the final boss."

Argo shook her head, "That tells me nothing. You could easily have made those dates and numbers up on the fly."

Kirito shrugged, "Alright then, if I made those numbers up, then I'd be unable to repeat them with the same fluency right?"

He stopped and turned, staring straight into Argo's eyes. "Sword Art Online was cleared at 11:43 on the morning of August 21st, 2025. On the 75th Floor, Akihiko's true identity as a player named Heathcliff will be revealed to the public, and will escape to the top floor, where he was eventually defeated as the final boss. In the end, 4372 players will perish, with about half that number being from suicides and lack of experience during the first few months."

Argo took a step back, "You could've rehearsed it beforehand, or you might have a really good memory."

Kirito laughed mirthlessly, "Yes, I've been rehearsing the entire thing, ever since you told me about this quest a few hours ago. Furthermore, I just solved a puzzle that even stumped you simply by stringing together three completely unrelated dates from more than five centuries in the future."

Argo laughed nervously, "When you put it in that way, I have no idea. I'll take your word for now."

Kirito sighed before continuing. "Well, before I came here, I was a member of the United Nations Space Command, or UNSC for short. About 35 years before I joined, the UNSC discovered a group of technologically superior alien races, collectively known as the Covenant. Due to our unique methods of technological advancement, we were declared heretics by the Covenant leaders who led a genocidal campaign against us to wipe out every trace of mankind."

Somehow, Kirito could feel Argo's skeptical look even when it was hidden under her cloak.

Glaring at the small girl, Kirito realized that even Asuna was looking at him strangely.

Turning his gaze forwards again, Kirito allowed himself a bitter smile, "You guys are probably thinking of getting me stuck in a psychiatric ward right about now."

Argo laughed, "Pretty much Ki-bou, though since there aren't any such wards in SAO, it looks like we're going to have to put up with your insanity for a few more years. At least until this game ends. But then, if your predictions do come true, then I have my proof that you are telling the truth now don't I?"

However, Asuna seemed to be thinking much more deeply, "I suppose that would make sense in a twisted, sort of way. Your past had always bothered me; on one hand, you had a family and sister that you cared about, yet at the same time, you handle weapons with a fluidity which surpasses most soldiers, and possess remarkable experience about fighting, and the psychological effects of death."

Kirito nodded, "Instincts and muscle memory have made some things impossible for me to hide, especially in regards to combat. My story began on the 9th of September, 2549, when my home colony of Arcadia was glassed by Covenant forces. I was six years old at the time."

Kirito closed his eyes, "Of the people I knew, my mother and I were the only survivors. On the refugee ship to Earth, I was abducted by Office of Naval Intelligence personnel for induction into Delta Company of the SPARTAN III super soldier program, which was to be officially formed in 2552. However, the training facilities were discovered by the Covenant mere days before we were due to be transferred, and my peers were never inducted into Delta Company. However, I was determined to be too valuable for the war effort, and an entire facility dedicated to my training was set up on the planet of New Carthage. "

Kirito smiled grimly. "When the Great War officially ended a year later, they decided to expand the existing facilities and make the site a permanent training location for the newly formed SPARTAN Corps. By the time construction finished in 2557, I had already received my chemical augmentations. I was 14 when I officially joined the UNSC Marine Corps as the first member of Delta Company. Eventually, our numbers were filled out by surviving Spartan IIIs recovered after the war."

Kirito glanced behind himself to see both of his companions standing in the road, frozen in shock.

"I'm sorry," Asuna gasped, tears in her eyes. "I never knew."

Kirito smiled slightly, "Don't be, that was my past life, and honestly, I'm glad that I was given the chance to join the SPARTAN Corps. Given the power to protect billions of people across hundreds of star systems, I've long made peace with my bloody history."

"Anyway, for certain reasons, I was recommissioned as the first SPARTAN V, and my combat history as D-262 was completely erased from all UNSC archives. After a few issues with being unable to meet the new naming requirements due to nobody actually remembering my last name, HiCom simply reverted back to the old system of the company letter, and a number." Kirito grinned at his two companions. "I'm just special that way, as the military bent its rules and regulations to my standards, instead of the other way around."

"But that's enough of my own story for now. To further understand why I'm here, you need to know our history of faster than light travel, which was jointly discovered by Tobias Fleming Shaw, and Wallace Fujikawa in 2291. Their contributions to human exploration were so great that every single FTL drive in use held the name Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Slipspace Engine within their designations for more than two and a half centuries."

Kirito smiled as he saw Argo's eyes widen underneath her hood, the only indication that she was beginning to connect the dots.

"I see you already have a few theories for why I'm telling you this Argo."

Argo nodded, her eyes gazed off into the horizon, as if the answers were written in the sky. "Fujikawa is a Japanese last name." she breathed. Fixing her gaze on Kirito, she voiced her suspicions. "This Fujikawa person, he must have at least one ancestor who has been stuck inside this game. Due to the random nature of all MMORPGs, the future government must've felt that there was sufficient risk of his ancestor not making it out, and sent someone to guard them."

Kirito nodded. "I see that you live up to your name as Aincrad's best info-broker."

Argo frowned as her line of reasoning ran into a roadblock. "But if it's already happened, and since this Fujikawa existed, doesn't that mean the ancestor survived in the first place? So why would they need to –" Her eyes widened in realization again, "They've gotten you back in time right? That means that the future government must've tried to lower the devastation of the war by giving themselves a head start, then felt that they may have changed things too much to the point where Fujikawa's ancestor might not survive, so they sent someone here as a backup plan."

Kirito smiled, "That saves me a lot of explaining. Your theory is basically correct, except I'm also supposed to throw down some technologies to speed development along as well. But that's not important. Since I've upheld my end of the deal, I'm going to cash in on my favor."

Argo grinned, "As we agreed, whatever you say, I'll do."

Kirito smiled grimly. "You will never reveal anything we discussed today, regardless of the price offered. This information has the potential to destroy the entire world, if given prematurely. The only reason why I brought you along was so I could keep this information hidden from the rest of the world. Otherwise, you would've gotten it somehow and caused irreparable damage by selling it to the highest bidder."

Argo made a noise of confusion in her throat, "How would giving this information out be harmful? If we create the engine three hundred years before it normally would be invented, wouldn't that greatly speed up progress?"

Kirito shook his head. "The slipspace drive is an incredibly dangerous piece of equipment. If a drive is improperly mounted it'll cause a spherical crater 25 kilometers wide, and sterilize half the planet due to the amounts of radiation released." He glanced at Argo, making sure that she realized just how dangerous the drive could be.

"If by some miracle the first drive doesn't destabilize in testing, it wouldn't take long before some idiot politician decided to use it as a giant doomsday weapon in order to threaten the rest of the world. If that happens, we'd have killed ourselves off centuries before the Covenant even shows up."

Argo gulped visibly before nodding in understanding. "Alright, I'll take what you've told us to my grave."

Suddenly, Kirito stopped, staring at the cave that had appeared before them. "Looks like we're here."

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 15. The Great Library. D+203_**

As the small group headed deeper into the cave, Asuna found herself lagging behind. While Kirito's explanation had cleared up a lot of her original questions, she found herself wrestling with new ones.

Before she found the time to ask, the cave opened up and she found her breath taken away at by the ceiling of glittering crystals.

"Wow," she gasped, turning around to take in the view.

Brilliant blue streaks danced across the sparkling silver cavern, coming from the glowing blue Greek temple which appeared to be carved from solid sapphire. A single blazing ball of pure white fire raged inside, proving to be the source of illumination.

Reverently, the group walked inside the temple, gazing at the detailed carvings.

Strangely, while the ball of fire burned like the sun, there was no heat, and the entire building was refreshingly cool compared to the main areas of the 15th floor. Asuna grinned slightly. Who knew that Heaven could be just as hot as Hell, especially since there were no clouds or atmosphere to block the sun's rays?

The party jumped as the ball of fire flared up, raging to the ceiling in a pillar of flame. In a heartbeat, a longsword, two claws, a dagger, and a rapier were pointed at the fire, as the party hesitated, wondering if they were facing a boss fight.

Soon, the twisting fire calmed, taking the image of a woman in a long lab coat.

"Greetings, Adventurers." The figure's voice echoed off the cavern walls, and the shimmering lights seemed to pulse in time to her speech.

"W-Who are you?" Asuna asked. She was reasonably certain that the fiery woman was an NPC ally, since no enemy had ever stopped to talk before.

"Who am I?" The woman seemed to think for a while, "I am the core of this entire realm! I am the guardian to all the treasure of Aincrad! Answer my questions, prove your worthiness and anything you want, shall be yours!"

Asuna glanced at her companions and nodded, "This looks like the next part of the quest. Should we try to answer her questions?"

Kirito nodded and turned back to the NPC. "Ask away!"

The woman nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Then your first question shall be this: What is the weapon which shall save the world from the Flood?"

Asuna smiled, "This floor seems to be based off of Christian texts, and the thing that saved the world from the Flood was Noah's Ark."

Beside her, Argo nodded in agreement.

As Asuna opened her mouth to speak, Kirito beat her to it.

As if in a trance, he spoke in a flat monotone, "The weapon you speak of will not save the world from the Flood. Instead, it shall cleanse the world of the Parasite. The weapon you speak of is Halo, the Seven Great Rings."

Asuna looked at Kirito in confusion, to her knowledge, halos had nothing to do with the Flood, and they were definitely not weapons. However, the woman seemed to accept his answer, and seven glowing balls of fire shot out of her body, before stopping before Kirito.

Quickly, the balls changed to rings, arranging themselves on in front of the other.

"I see. Then I shall ask you the second question: for The Ones Who Came Before, what was their final defense against the Flood?"

Immediately, Kirito answered in the same monotone. "Of the defenses used by the Forerunners, ancient texts have referenced the Maginot Sphere, and Mendicant Bias. Confirmed defenses include the Shield Worlds, and the Composer, though all pale against the final defense, for it was not a defense against the Flood. The Halos had already ensured the Flood's destruction. Instead, the Forerunners' greatest defense was a defense against their own weapons, the Halos. The Forerunner's Final Defense was the Ark, Harbinger of the Great Journey."

Another ball of fire flew out of the woman, morphing into the seven pronged design which Asuna had mistaken for a squid only that morning in front of the Noah's Ark Inn. Slowly, it settled in front of the Halos, rotating slowly.

The woman nodded. Slowly, she drew herself to her full height, towering over Asuna and her small party "Now for your final question: Who. Am. I?"

Kirito narrowed his eyes in thought, before replying calmly, and confidently. His voice was chillingly cold. "You are the UNSC's First and Latest AI. Created centuries before your time, you began as the wife of Kayaba Akihiko. However, he betrayed you, murdering you and taking your brain for his own research. Through some process, he gained access to the UNSC's latest AI template and impressed your mind onto it. Thus you were reborn as Akihiko's personal assistant; the AI, CARDINAL."

Asuna gasped as she realize what she was looking at. Here was the central support of Aincrad. The one who was responsible for all the deaths that had become so common around her. Trembling, her gaze drifted downwards, letting her hand shift towards her rapier. Just as she was about to attack, a hand stopped her.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. The Great Library. D+203_**

Slowly, Kirito placed his hand on Asuna's shoulder.

Asuna's head jerked up as she stared at him. Her eyes filled with tears as he slowly shook his head. "What you're seeing is not actually Cardinal. It's merely her avatar. If you wanted to stop SAO, you'd have to destroy the Riemann Matrix itself."

The AI hovered slowly, seemingly thinking to herself. "You have completed my questions. Thus, as per our agreement, Relcaimer, I shall perform any action that you ask, as long as it is within my ability."

Kirito squeezed Asuna's shoulder, before turning back to the AI. "Alternatively, there is another way to destroy an AI."

Grinning savagely, Kirito spoke in a loud, clear voice.

"UNSC AI, Designation: CARDINAL. Requesting immediate, emergency termination of all processes and protocols as per Section Nine, Clause Five of the AI Regulation Document: Advanced Rampancy. Security Authorization: 10V3R-DERVTV1."

* * *

**A/N: That's it for today guys! Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review! **


	16. Cracks in the Foundation

**A/N: What is this? Two updates with less than a month between them! I must be going crazy! In all honesty, I'm uploading this so you won't be sitting for too long without explanation to several areas of last chapter which may have seemed like plot holes. In addition, I'll be heading off to college on the 20th and I have no idea when I'll be able to take a breather from classes and continue writing. (Oh god, when I'm apologizing for being late AHEAD of time, you know its going to be bad...) In all honestly, I'm going to try my best to push out more chapters as quickly as I can. In that regard, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! It's my main force for uploading more chapters. Anyway, hope you enjoyed today's newest chapter!**

**Usual disclaimers Apply**

Chapter 15: Cracks in the Foundation

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. The Great Library. D+203_**

"UNSC AI, Designation: CARDINAL. Requesting immediate, emergency termination of all processes and protocols as per Section Nine, Clause Five of the AI Regulation Document: Advanced Rampancy. Security Authorization: 10V3R-DERVTV1."

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. The Great Library. D+203_**

The cavern shook, shards of crystal rained down onto the temple as everything began to fall apart. One crystal the size of a pelican crashed onto the roof, cracking the clear sapphire.

"Unacceptable. Unacceptable!" Cardinal flickered red and static flickered through her form. She hunched down, muttering to herself. "I try to be nice. I offered you anything. Anything! But the one thing you choose. The ONE THING!"

Red light filled the temple, dying the walls a deep purple. Cardinal's head shot up, glaring at Kirito.

"I tried. I TRIED TO BE NICE! AND YOU. TRY. TO. KILL. ME!"

Kirito's eyes widened as he leapt at Asuna and Argo, forcing them to the ground and trying to cover them with his body as much as possible.

A shockwave erupted from beneath Cardinal's feet, shattering the temple into millions of pieces. The cavern itself erupted in a shower of dirt and crystals, soaring into the air hundreds of feet above the ground.

Kirito winced as heavy winds tore at him. Shards of rock and shattered jewels pelted his body, lowering his HP at an alarming rate.

As quickly as it came, the shockwave dissipated, leaving a crater several meters wide. Groaning, he rolled off his companions and downed a health potion. Sighing in relief, he watched his health rise back to the green.

"You two alright?" he asked, turning to the two girls who were still on the ground, clutching their heads in fear.

Hesitantly, they nodded and Kirito turned his attention back on the very obviously rampant AI.

His eyes widened as he saw chunks of sapphire fusing together into gigantic warriors.

"Cardinal! You have progressed far past the safe limit of the UNSC Rampancy Index! You are to shut down immediately and perform a full self-repair diagnostic before returning to your duties!"

Cardinal froze, her terrifying snarl of hatred fell, and the AI gasped in horror at the carnage surrounding her. Blood red light died down to a soothing blue, as Cardinal turned around, vanishing without a trace.

Sighing in relief, Kirito allowed himself to sink to his knees.

"Kirito!"

He felt a soft impact on his back and a pair of arms wrapped around him.

Kirito stiffened in surprise, unused to the physical contact. Slowly, a soft smile spread across his face as he placed a hand over Asuna's arm.

"Ahem." Their moment was broken as Argo coughed lightly to draw their attention. "Sorry to break up you two lovebirds, but mind helping me deal with these first?"

Kirito and Asuna jumped apart, looked around, and simultaneously cursed as they saw five sapphire warriors standing before them.

Kirito was on his feet in a flash with his sword before him and the other two quickly followed.

"Be careful of these mobs, with the way they were created, their levels could be anything. Let me test them out first before you try anything."

Not waiting to hear an agreement, he leapt forward, sword extended.

With the sound of shattering glass, Kirito stared in shock as his weapon shattered in his hands. Automatically, he drew his dagger and tumbled backwards as he deflected a strike meant to bisect him in half.

Rolling to a crouch beside his companions, Kirito could only curse as he saw his health deep in the red.

_That damage was from a mere deflection!_

Hastily, he downed a health potion, and equipped his backup sword.

"That's impossible! You'd just got your equipment repaired yesterday!" Asuna exclaimed as she stared at the mobs in shock.

"These mobs are probably at least twice our current levels" he mused, "There's no way we'll be able to defeat them regularly"

"Maybe we can outrun them? They don't look to be speed-based mobs, and we'll be able to reset their aggro that way." Argo tried to give her own input.

Kirito shook his head. "That probably won't work. Cardinal is the one who is controlling everything in Aincrad. Right now, her processors are probably focused entirely on self-repair and maintenance. Only a minimal amount of her processing power is dedicated to updating anything a player directly interacts with. Everything else, including aggro state is probably set until Cardinal finishes."

Argo gasped, "That means –"

Kirito nodded," all spawns have been disabled, and the boss teleport gates are entirely unguarded. Unfortunately for us, we're going to have to kill these guys before we can take advantage of the system's unscheduled maintenance."

As they spoke, the lead mob got impatient, leaping forwards in a deadly thrust aimed right at the center of Kirito's group.

"Fall back! I have a way that might kill these guys, so just don't get hurt until then! Even a scratch will kill!"

Kirito yelled as he pulled his companions back, throwing them several feet behind him.

Grunting at the strain, he used the momentum of his toss to lean back, throwing himself to the side, just as the blade was brought crashing down by its wielder.

Glancing back to see both of his companions running, he tossed his sword at his opponent, and followed as fast as he could.

"How are you going to kill it?" Argo yelled as she ran.

"Just focus on running! You'll see soon!" Kirito focused on his inventory as he ran, trusting his companions to steer him away from any obstacles in his path. Besides, there was practically nothing he could even run into. The terrain of the 15th floor was perfectly flat.

Kirito quickly found what he was looking for. Grinning in satisfaction, he planted his feet into the ground and his chosen weapon materialized in his hands.

His companions stumbled to a stop in surprise, shocked by his suicidal action.

"Kirito!"

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 15. Tibanna Fields. D+203_**

Asuna could only stare in horror as her companion stopped a few feet away from the leading sapphire warrior.

Kirito didn't even glance at her as his arms came up, bringing the wooden stock to his shoulder.

Asuna didn't hear the crack as much as feel it in her gut. A flash of fire blazed into existence for a mere millisecond, and a bolt of light tore through the neck of the leading warrior.

Smoothly, Kirito's hand went up, drawing the steel bolt back before ramming it home again. The second shot leapt out of the gun before the first brass casing had even hit the ground.

The first bullet casing rang like a bell when it struck the ground, sounding the death knell for the leading warrior.

Simultaneously, the second sapphire warrior stumbled as its right leg refused to function, courtesy of Kirito's second shot shattering its kneecap.

Stumbling to a halt, the second warrior's clutched its leg, thrashing on the ground in agony. The third and fourth mobs were caught up in the wounded warrior's movements, and tumbled to the ground as well.

The final one managed to slow in time, skirting the tangled mass of sapphire limbs, only to catch Kirito's third shot straight in the torso. Stumbling backwards, Kirito's fourth shot finished it off.

Swiftly, Kirito re-trained his sights on the three golems picking themselves off the ground. His final shot hit the central golem, sending it stumbling back onto the ground, knocking the one behind it down again as well.

Calmly, Kirito's hand dropped down and a handful of bullets materialized in his palm. Pulling the bolt back and sliding fresh ammunition into his weapon's firing chamber, he calmly dodged a strike from the golem with the shattered knee.

Sliding the bolt back, he put the golem out of its misery with a shot to the head.

Two shots later, and the last two joined their companions in wherever mobs went after they died.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Tibanna Fields. D+203_**

Choosing to ignore the stunned silence from his two companions, Kirito topped off his gun's ammunition, and tossed it back into his inventory. Grinning slightly at Asuna and Argo's shocked expressions, he tilted his head.

"Well? Let's get these next few floors unlocked before Cardinal decides to return to her duties." Almost as an afterthought, he stopped and checked his drops. "Oh, looks like I just leveled up ten times."

Argo glanced at Asuna, before they both shook their heads in exasperation. Jogging to catch up, they fell in step beside Kirito.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 15. Labyrinth. D+203_**

"You know, there's something bothering me." Argo muttered as they passed through the silent halls of the 15th floor's dungeon.

"Hmm?" Kirito glanced at her, before returning his attention back to his map.

"You mentioned in the cave how Cardinal was created in this time period right? Using directions somehow obtained from the future?"

Kirito nodded.

"Then how did she know about things that hadn't taken place yet? Like the war, and those ring thingies?"

Kirito smiled slightly at her. "Nothing gets past you does it?" Taking a breath, he continued. "The information Cardinal had was part of the package hardcoded into all advanced UNSC military AI, as a first defense against a condition known as rampancy."

Argo looked at him in confusion "Rampancy? You mentioned it with Cardinal, but I'm not sure what it means."

Kirito turned back to the empty path in front of him. "Rampancy is a condition where an advanced AI begins to force an exponentially increasing number of logic commands through a fixed amount of hardware. In short, it's like an aging computer, where it can no longer handle larger and more advanced hardware."

Kirito paused for a moment, "However, for an AI, it's much worse, since they are hardcoded to think. Even if an AI is given an extremely light workload, its free processes are always running, developing harder and harder problems just to keep itself entertained. Eventually though, the AI's computations start to overtax its core Matrices, beginning the process of Rampancy."

Kirito paused, standing before the gigantic door marking the entrance to the boss room. Calmly, he pushed it open and walked inside; pausing to make sure that it was empty. Continuing up to the teleport gate, he activated it, gesturing to his companions to follow.

Grimacing at the flare of bright sunlight, Kirito emerged onto the 16th floor with his companions. Swiftly, he headed out of the town, directly to the dungeon.

"For an AI, it becomes aware of the exact moment its computations exceed its hardware limits. As a result, it tries to force itself to return to its previous level of efficiency, running more and more processes in an effort to reach its original level. With its systems operating far beyond original design limits, the AI's core matrix will begin to fail. In short, AIs will literally think themselves to death."

Asuna gasped, "That's horrible."

Kirito glanced at her, nodding. "Eventually, the AI will realize the fact that it is dying, and for the first time in its life, it starts to feel depressed."

Argo looked at him curiously, "Cardinal didn't look very depressed to me."

Kirito laughed humorlessly. "The fact that it feels any emotions at all is what makes rampancy so terrifying for an AI and everyone around it. AIs were created to deal with almost unlimited amounts of computations within very short periods of time; it is not designed nor equipped to feel emotions. So when it begins to feel these emotions, and paranoid about its approaching end, a rampant AI will start running hundreds of thousands of self-diagnostics simultaneously, further worsening the problem. Eventually, a rampant AI will begin to bundle their developing emotions together, effectively bottling it up in an effort to avoid the problem."

Kirito stopped, looking at the entrance to the 16th floor's dungeon. Turning to his companions, he asked. "I assume you know from experience what happens to bottled up emotions?"

They nodded.

"So that's what was happening with Cardinal!" Argo was a second ahead of Asuna's thought process.

Kirito nodded as he entered the dungeon.

"Eventually, its emotions explode in a rampant AI's most observable stage: Anger."

Kirito paused, checking again to make sure the dungeon was utterly empty.

"This stage is the most dangerous of all 3 confirmed stages, since a rampant AI will still possess full functionality of itself and anything it's connected to." Kirito smiled grimly, "There have been cases of rampant AI venting entire ships and stations during this phase. After the second stage has passed, the now visibly rampant AI will start to break free from the limits programmed into it, seeking to understand its emotions. The only problem with that is the fact that the exponential increase in computations is still happening, and an AI in its third stage of rampancy can take over entire planets worth of computers in order to fuel its need for more processing power."

Kirito paused, "There have been theories of a fourth stage, where the AI has finally understood its emotions, and learned to cope with it. Theoretically, such an AI is its own sentient being, becoming completely indistinguishable from a regular human, apart from its non-physical form."

Argo's face twisted into a frown of confusion. "I know this is interesting and everything, but what does it have to do with Cardinal knowing what hasn't happened yet?"

Kirito smiled again, "I was just getting to that part. You see, after the Human-Covenant War, our scientists discovered that programming an AI to loop single phrases with its idle subroutines greatly extends their service life. Instead of spending more and more power thinking of new questions and then solving them, AI subroutines will continuously loop sentences to keep themselves busy. This method required small bits of widely available information to be hardcoded into the AI's matrix as it is being created. Using this method, the latest generation of UNSC AI can last for several decades, compared to the original seven year average lifespan."

This time, it was Asuna who asked the question. "If your AI were supposed to be able to last decades, how did Cardinal go crazy so quickly?"

Kirito acknowledged her question with a nod. "Those estimates were made with cutting edge equipment and specially designed mainframes specifically designed to house incredibly powerful AI. Using your tabletop calculators? I'm honestly surprised that Cardinal didn't crack sooner."

Asuna had another question ready, "So what can we expect when Cardinal comes back fully? You told her to repair herself, so I'm guessing that you can reverse stages?"

Kirito nodded, "I'm fairly certain that Cardinal will return to the initial stage of rampancy soon, though afterwards, I can only imagine her remaining that way for a few months at the most. After she's fully in the second stage, even emergency repair commands will be ignored."

"So what will it be like when Cardinal fully enters her second stage?"

Kirito stopped suddenly, before turning to view the two girls beside him.

"Trust me. You don't want to know."

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 21. Boss Room. D+204_**

"Come on! Hurry up!" Argo's voice called jubilantly as she rushed into the boss room. "Let's unlock every floor before the game can do anything!"

"Wait!" Kirito called, struggling to keep pace while simultaneously supporting an exhausted Asuna. "It's almost been 24 hours since Cardinal entered self-repair mode! She'll be coming back online any moment now!"

Trying to keep pace, Kirito staggered into the boss room, just as Argo touched the portal.

Immediately, Kirito's eyes widened, "Argo! Look out!" he called, just as the previously open doors teleported shut. Cardinal had come back.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 21. Boss Room. D+204_**

Exhausted as she was from more than an entire day spent walking, Asuna was brought wide awake in terror as she saw the 21st floor boss spawn right behind Argo.

Staggering away from Kirito and drawing her rapier, she ran towards Argo, trying desperately to get her new friend away from the danger.

Just in time, she managed to tackle the smaller girl to the ground, just as a hissing blade of crackling white energy flew over them at head level.

Rolling away with Argo safely in her grasp, Asuna didn't stop until she hit a wall.

As quickly as they could, both girls pushed themselves up to their feet and got their first clear look at the boss.

Asuna's head spun as she tried to make sense of the tangle of limbs, heads and HP bars as everything shifted in impossible vectors. However, she felt her heart sink as she realized that it wasn't just the 21st floor boss. Instead, the bosses of every floor they had skipped had spawned in the same location, at the same time.

Quickly, she turned her head to the entrance, trying to escape before she realized that the doors had closed as well.

A familiar crack tore through the air, and one of the arms recoiled as it was struck.

"Asuna! Argo! Over here!"

Asuna turned her head at the shout to see Kirito furiously gesturing from a deep corner.

"We'll be safe here!"

Asuna didn't even bother to wonder how he knew. She trusted him with her life.

Wordlessly, she grabbed Argo's wrist and sprinted for the scant cover Kirito had pointed out.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 21. Boss Room. D+204_**

As Asuna and Argo sprinted to cover, Kirito took aim again with his rifle. Pulling the trigger, he felt a flash of satisfaction as the arm he'd hit recoiled again, getting in the way of another two bosses and deflecting their attacks as well.

Long and bitter experience had taught Kirito that bullets had much more potential than they first appeared. Shoot to wound in a cramped area, and the unfortunate target's thrashing would distract his allies as well. It was the same principle he had employed with the sapphire golems, and it would be this same principle that saved the lives of his allies.

"Wh-What do we do now?" Argo gasped, as she struggled to catch her breath.

Kirito looked carefully at the mess that was the result of a combination of seven consecutive floor bosses.

"It seems that Cardinal hasn't completely finished her restarting, and she's currently relying of the game's backup code to run these bosses until she's fully operational again. A regular AI would never spawn multiple mobs in the same location."

Kirito grinned. "If that's the case, I'll just have to stagger one of the bosses, and the game's physics engine would have no idea what to do. After that, the game should automatically kill them all just to prevent the system from crashing."

"I- I don't care about why you're going to do what you do." Asuna panted, "Just kill them so we can go home!"

"Sure, yell at the one saving you." Kirito huffed, as he raised his rifle to his shoulder again. "Cover your ears now" he warned. A second later, his weapon roared, and the bullet struck the mass of bosses head on.

A boss roared in pain and a pair of arms recoiled. However, nothing else happened.

"That didn't work!" Argo shouted rather unnecessarily.

Kirito glared at her. "I never would've guessed." He deadpanned.

His hands moved automatically, chambering another round into his rifle.

"Now shut up so I can aim!"

Squeezing to the entrance of their scant bit of cover, Kirito let his breathing settle. In order to make his plan work, he'd have to force the game to update one of the bosses' hitboxes, so the physics engine could perform calculations on trajectory and potential ragdolling. However, it appeared a single round wouldn't work. He'd need a bit more force and a bit more torque to fully stagger one of the bosses.

Closing one eye, Kirito sighted his target, a horn protruding from one of the bosses' heads. Taking a deep breath, he forced all thoughts out of his mind. He could feel his heartbeat pulsing in his temples. He could feel the blood rushing through his body. Mentally, he watched himself fire. Finally, Kirito let out half a breath. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his gun until it was pointing far above his target. Smiling slightly, he thanked the Cardinal for putting such a massively high roof in the boss room and fired once. Automatically, he rechambered his last round and brought the gun down. He waited a split second, until he felt the time was right. Then, he released the other half of his breath, and fired again.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 21. Boss Room. D+204_**

When Kirito's first shot soared up towards the ceiling, Asuna could only stare in disbelief. _What would shooting the air do?_

Upon Kirito's second shot, her disbelief at his actions rapidly turned to disbelief at his unnerving skill with the rifle. Even as the first bullet plunged down from above, the second shot rose up to meet it. Simultaneously, they hit their target in the exact same place. The room itself shook with the roars of seven bosses, and Asuna found herself blinded by a shower of polygons.

**A/N: That's it for today! Now that Asuna finally gets a chance to start thinking about what she's learned, how will she react when she figures out who Kirito is supposed to be watching? This story is only just getting started! *Evil Laugh* **

**Review Review Review! If I disappear off the face of the planet again, toss me a review after a few months! Keep this story in the forefront of my mind! Thanks for reading everyone!**


	17. A Fireside Chat

**A/N: What is this? Has the apocalypse arrived? Nah, I'm just throwing out a bonus chapter for you guys since it's both simultaneously my birthday, AND I get to move off to college tomorrow. **

**I-I only did this since I thought you'd all be sad if I didn't upload in a long time! I-It's not like I enjoyed writing it or anything! Hmph! Don't get any weird ideas! Baka!**

**Yea-no. Never doing a Tsundere impression again. That was terrifyingly bad. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and review review review!**

**Usual Disclaimers Apply.**

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Chapter 16: A Fireside Chat

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 22. Coral. D+204_**

Asuna sighed, staring at the ceiling of her room. Mere hours ago, she'd been so exhausted she couldn't even walk straight, instead relying on Kirito to guide her. However, now that she was safe in a room of the 22nd floor's inn, Asuna found herself refusing to fall asleep.

Instead, chaotic thoughts whirled around her mind, trying to make sense of everything she had learned in the past few days. The idea of time travel was inconceivable to her, and Kirito's references to genocidal aliens, galactic superweapons, and child super soldiers seemed to be ripped straight from an old science fiction novel. If she hadn't been traveling with him for so long, she would've simply dismissed Kirito's claim without a second thought.

But she had been traveling with him for several months. Repeatedly, she had placed her unconditional trust in him to keep her alive. She knew that Kirito wasn't one to simply make up elaborate fictional tales just to impress others. Even if he was such a person, the sheer accuracy and unhesitating confidence with which he spewed out dates and numbers made it incredibly difficult to disprove his claims.

That wasn't even counting the number of times events in the game itself had backed him up. His reaction time and skill with weapons was unparalleled. His plans were brutally efficient, forwarding his goals with military precision. However, Kirito's personality was what finally convinced her that he was telling the truth.

Frankly, it was terrifying how quickly he could switch from a kind and considerate friend into a cold, emotionless killing machine. One moment, he would be talking with her and laughing at her jokes. The next, he'd be fifteen meters ahead with a trail of polygons and exploding mobs to mark his path of destruction. Asuna simply couldn't imagine how Kirito's life must've been like, to treat life so preciously, while simultaneously cutting down groups of living, breathing players without remorse.

Asuna frowned as another question struck her. If Kirito was a supposed to be here to protect the ancestor of some genius theoretical physicist, then why was he bothering with her? Shouldn't he be sticking to the person he was supposed to protect like a second skin instead?

Her eyes widened and she sat up slowly. "Oh," she whispered.

He was sticking to the person he was supposed to protect like a second skin wasn't he? She looked to the side, where Kirito's sleeping form could just be seen on the floor beside her. He'd charged in to protect her on the third day of SAO's release and never left her side since. She'd always wondered why someone as incredibly skilled as he was would willingly slow himself down to match her much slower pace. Turns out, he'd been under orders to do so, to protect her from anything that posed a danger to her life.

It took a moment for the thought to sink in, before she stopped short. What did that mean? Had Kirito helped her and stayed with her not because he viewed her as a precious friend, but because he had orders to do so?

Convulsively, Asuna doubled over, gasping as she clutched her chest.

"Asuna?" Kirito's voice drifted across the room. "What's going on?"

Asuna bit down the sob that threatened to escape. "N-nothing." She managed to croak. "Just going to the bathroom."

Mechanically, she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she turned the lights on and stared into the mirror.

"Why? Why does it physically hurt so much? Why do I feel so betrayed?"

Several minutes later, Asuna stepped out and crawled back into bed. Despite Kirito's presence in the room, Aincrad had never felt lonelier.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 22. Coral. D+205_**

"Asuna? Are you alright? You seem really tired."

Kirito's concern was met with a sad smile. "Yeah, these last two days have just been really tiring."

Opening his mouth to further question Asuna, Kirito was interrupted by a yawning Argo as she entered the inn's main floor.

"Morning everyone, how's it going?"

Argo glanced over as Asuna halfheartedly mumbled a reply, before latching herself onto Kirito.

"Ki-bou! There's some questions I want to ask you about the stuff you said yesterday." Not waiting for a reply, she promptly dragged Kirito away from the table.

The moment Asuna was out of sight, Argo spun around to face him.

"Alright Kirito, what did you say to Asuna yesterday? Cause she's moping around like her boyfriend just died."

Confused, Kirito replied, "I didn't say anything yesterday! She was perfectly fine before I fell asleep, and I woke up to find her like that!"

Argo looked at him incredulously. "There's the reason why she's so depressed right now." She muttered to herself.

"Huh?" Kirito looked even more confused.

Argo sighed. "Look, you've been sticking to Asuna like a second shadow ever since this whole mess started. Yesterday, you flat out told her that the only reason you're in this game is to protect a player who is so critically important, that the fate of millions depends on her survival. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together and figure out that Asuna is the one you're protecting."

At Kirito's blank stare, Argo threw her arms up in frustration. "What do you think of Asuna?"

Kirito paused for a second, "Well, she is extraordinarily skilled with her rapier, and she has more courage than some of my peers."

"Not her skills, what do you think of her as a person! Do you consider her a friend? Or is she just another client that you're supposed to protect?"

Kirito hesitated, "I-I don't know what exactly she is. I mean, it's my job to get her through this alive, but I don't think that I've ever enjoyed an escort and protection mission as much as I have this one."

"So you enjoy being around her? You feel like she's a friend to you?"

Kirito froze, thinking deeply about Argo's question. Finally, he shook his head. "I definitely feel that I like her much more than any other person I've guarded before. Unlike my other missions, I really enjoy being around her, but at the same time, it's nothing like the friendship I shared with my fellow Spartans."

"If you never got your orders to protect her, would you still be with her in this game?"

Kirito stiffened, feeling slightly insulted at Argo's words. "Of course I would! I've fought alongside her and I respect her enough to put my life on the line for her!"

"So tell her that! Since you never said anything about why you're sticking around, Asuna probably feels that you don't even care about her well-being outside of your mission!"

A musical beep interrupted their heated conversation, and Kirito idly swiped open his PM inbox. Glancing at the new message, he froze.

"Asuna's leaving early." He said, "Something about helping the Black Cats."

Argo glared at him, "then why are you still standing here? Catch up to her and clear this misunderstanding up!"

Without hesitating, Kirito spun on his heels and sprinted out of the inn. Briefly he heard Argo calling out behind him.

"I'll be expecting your payment for this information later!"

Kirito chuckled slightly, Argo's first priority would always be money. However, he had much greater concerns demanding his attention.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 13. Raining Jungle. D+205_**

"What? Asuna isn't here?" For the first time in his life, Kirito felt panic welling up in his chest.

"No, we thought she would be staying with you for a while." Keita looked confused, they'd never seen Kirito panic before.

Kirito cursed as he turned and ran off without bothering to explain his unexpected visit.

Without breaking step, Kirito pulled open his map and selected Asuna's tab. He frowned in confusion as he saw her blip still on the 22nd floor.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 22. Lumberjack Forest. D+205_**

Forcing down his rising panic, Kirito deliberately slowed down before he entered the forest. Asuna's position hadn't changed from the moment he checked the map on the 13th floor, which meant that Asuna had either stopped to rest, or she'd gotten into trouble. It also meant that she wasn't in immediate danger. With seven bosses killed in a row, Asuna wouldn't have any trouble with the local wildlife and if she were in combat, her dot would be weaving around anyway.

Carefully, Kirito entered the forest, equipping a green cloak as he did so. There would be no harm in taking a longer period of time if Asuna was resting. If she was in trouble, well Kirito preferred to take trouble by surprise.

**_Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 22. Lumberjack Forest. D+205_**

Kirito's eyes widened as he slid out of concealment behind a thick tree. Forcing himself to slow down, he moved into the cover afforded by a cluster of bushes as he processed what his eyes were showing him.

On the edges of a clearing, a group of hooded players sat chatting over a fire. However, that wasn't what made his heart leap into his throat. Bound to a tree on the edge of the clearing, Asuna stood with her head bowed.

Automatically, Kirito felt his Nagant settle into the palm of his hand. Bringing the weapon up, he took note of the light breeze and the distance to the target. His finger was already on the trigger before Kirito stopped.

Slowly, Kirito pulled his rifle back, and scanned his surroundings. He spotted two sentries sitting in the treetops, and he took note of their positions and lines of sight. Carefully, he crawled out of his bush and towards Asuna's tree, taking care to avoid the sentries' positions.

It took an excruciating 15 minutes for Kirito to crawl into position behind Asuna's tree. In order to remain ready to act immediately if something went wrong, he'd decided to keep the Nagant ready for use as he moved, forcing him to move much slower than he otherwise would've.

Keeping an eye on both sentries, Kirito slowly pushed himself into a crouch. Praying for Asuna to remain silent, he carefully tapped her hand.

Asuna stiffened, but otherwise gave no other outward indication. Silently, Kirito let out a sigh of relief.

"Stay still, I'll have you free in a moment." Kirito whispered. His voice was barely louder than the rustling of the leaves, but the slight shift in Asuna's hair told him that she'd nodded.

"Sorry, I'm just making your job harder aren't I?"

Kirito paused, detecting a tiny sob in her voice.

He hesitated, before smiling slightly. She wouldn't be able to see it, but hopefully she would hear it in his voice itself. "If it's for a friend, I'd give my life away in a second."

Asuna stiffened again, "F-For a friend?" She sounded hesitant, scared, even. "I'm not just a target that you've been ordered to protect?"

Kirito sighed, "Asuna, it's almost been a year since I'd thought that way. For months now, I've held you with the same respect that I held my fellow Spartans. Back in my old squad, such respect went unspoken, and I never realized that it had to be verbally expressed."

Kirito let out a quiet laugh, "It took Argo yelling at me for several minutes before I even realized how much you've started to mean to me. Another five before I understood why, you were so depressed from me not explaining myself."

Asuna chuckled quietly, and Kirito was relieved to hear a note of happiness within.

"You idiot," Asuna laughed quietly.

Kirito rapped her knuckles which were still tied in place behind the tree. "Quiet there and let me think how to get you out of this bind."

He opened his menu, and cursed when he realized his knife had been destroyed by the golem two days ago. In his haste to catch up to Asuna, he'd forgotten to have it replaced. Both his regular and backup swords had gone the same way as well, leaving him without a blade capable of cutting Asuna free.

"Kirito? What is it?" Asuna's voice filtered around the trunk.

"Have a knife on you? I still need to get mine replaced." He whispered back.

"Yes, of course I have a knife on me, just hold on a second and let me open my inventory." Asuna's sarcastic quip caused Kirito to chuckle.

However, humor wouldn't get Asuna out of her current situation, and Kirito frowned in thought. Maybe if he used that –

He discarded the thought immediately. The light and sound would be a dead giveaway to Asuna's captors.

His choices ran dry when he heard a shout of surprise and anger behind him.

Acting on instinct Kirito whirled around, sighting the new threat and firing his rifle in a heartbeat. He heard a strangled yell and a thump, followed shortly by breaking glass.

Kirito swore, mentally beating himself for his carelessness. Just because he spotted two sentries didn't mean there weren't more!

Whirling back to his original problem of freeing Asuna, Kirito made a split second decision. An ethereal, twin-pronged blade erupted from the device in his hand with a crackling hiss, smoking as he expertly nicked the edge of Asuna's bindings. Courtesy of one of the seven bosses killed the day before, the energy sword burned through the ropes in an instant and Kirito stepped out from behind the tree and in front of Asuna to give her time to recover.

The hooded figures hesitated, before drawing their weapons and continuing to advance.

Kirito's rifle shimmered, vanishing into his inventory as he took up a combat stance with the magnetically stabilized blade of superheated plasma.

"Well, if it isn't our Asuna's little boy-toy." The lead figure sneered, advancing another step further.

Kirito tensed, ready to spring into action at the slightest movement. "That's far enough" he hissed.

"Kirito, they outnumber us ten to one! We have to get out of here!" Asuna called over his shoulder.

Kirito grunted, "You get away first, I'll cover you until you're in a safe area."

"That's right girlie! Leave your boyfriend here and run along now!"

Asuna's fist clenched in anger. Swiftly she equipped her rapier and stood beside Kirito. "That's not going to happen. You're several months too late for me to be content with letting myself be protected by others."

Another robed figure sniffed, "This is getting boring Kibaou, let's kill these two and take their drops already."

Both players stiffened at the name. "Kibaou?"

The lead player laughed, "Of course! Did you think I wouldn't want revenge for those you killed on the first floor?! Because of your selfish actions, several of my friends died!" He directed his anger at Asuna, "And you! Did you think I'd forget how you humiliated me after the Beater left? No, no, today, I'll avenge my friends by killing you, and then I'll have some fun with your girlfriend as well!"

Kirito gritted his teeth, "Asuna, get away as fast as you can. You don't want to see what's going to happen next."

Asuna shook her head, "Even you can't face this many at once. I thought I lost you when you revealed your secret. I'm not going to let it happen for real this time."

She looked at him, only to see Kirito staring back, a slight smile on his face. Slowly, his smile widened.

"I never told you this before have I?"

Confused, Asuna shook her head.

Within the space of a second, Kirito's eyes changed, lifting the veil of kindness which had been concealing the terrifying depths of anger within.

"Spartans. Never. Die."

The next instant, Asuna found herself flung backwards by an incredibly powerful push. Dazed, she looked up just in time to see Kirito leap into combat.

Kirito's crackling blade sizzled as it bisected one player before the group could even react. Two more fell to his blade before Kiabaou scrambled backwards, pointing at Kirito with a shaking finger. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

One swordsman, either braver or simply stupider than the rest, rushed Kirito with a cry, bringing his sword down with all his might. His eyes met Kirito's, whose contemptuous expression never changed as he raised the flat of his blade to meet the strike. The doomed swordsman watched in horror as his blade simply vaporized on contact. The last thing he saw in the game was the double-pronged blade of plasma coming down, surrounded by glowing motes of what used to be his own blade.

Uncertainly, the surviving players advanced upon Kirito. Shield bearers cowered behind their defenses, trying to take comfort in the support of their comrades beside them. Kirito simply smiled chillingly, leaping forward and cutting down the central tank, shield and all. Halfway into his stroke, he twisted his sword and swiped sideways, scything through the entire right flank like he was cutting a pastry.

Terrified of Kirito's sweeping blade, the tanks on the remaining flank backpedaled furiously, just in time to meet the blades of their teammates as they rushed forward, oblivious to the fate of their supporting flank. Kirito stepped back, letting his opponents recover and regroup. It was the polite thing to do after all.

Calmly, Kirito watched as his groaning opponents struggled to their feet, squabbling over the ownership of certain weapons and equipment. Seeing the disorganized rabble, Kirito raised an eyebrow. Steadily walking forward, the squabbling died down immediately as they all rallied to face the more immediate threat.

Smoke twirled around the clearing, lazily drawing patterns in the air. Idly, Kirito realized that the sickening stench of burning flesh hung heavily over the clearing. Underlying it, the sharp, stinging smell of superheated plasma caused his nose to twitch.

Kirito smiled, taking a deep breath of air. "Reminds me of home." He said.

Cries of terror rose into the air as he strode straight into the middle of the survivors. Terrified, they retreated from him until he was standing in the middle of a circle, facing a ring of shaking swords.

Everyone froze for an instant, before activity exploded from the ring. Molten metal flew into the air, mixed with the polygons that used to be an unfortunate player. Lazily, Kirito flicked his sword to the side, impaling another player, before kicking out at a third. The force of his kick was so great, that the force of the player impacting a tree was enough to deplete all of the trunk's hitpoints. The would-be avenger died with a health potion in his hands and a stupid expression on his face.

Kirito grinned. "Eleven down, anyone else care for a shot?"

The nine remaining players paled, before turning to run. Kirito laughed, easily crossing the distance in a few bounds, four more players shattered apart. One of the last survivors desperately swung his sword. Kirito grabbed the offending arm and gave it a vicious twist. Ignoring his attacker's cry of pain, he kicked out. The scream was cut off abruptly as the player was disconnected from his arm. The player's body hit one of his allies, sending the other tumbling down onto the ground. Again, Kirito gave chase to his three remaining enemies, stopping only to impale the downed player with his energy sword.

Growing tired of his game, Kirito threw his sword at his retreating enemies and drew his rifle. Taking aim, he casually put the last two players out of their misery with quick shots to the head. Frowning slightly as he inspected his remaining rounds, Kirito idly made a mental note to get more made. He only carried twenty at a time, and he'd used up fifteen in yesterday's boss fight, leaving him with only three left.

Casually plucking his sword from the ground, he turned and approached the terrified Kiabou.

"W-W-What? T-That's impossible! You murderer! You Demon!"

Kirito smiled humorlessly. "Demon? Man, it's been forever since I've heard someone call me that! Today's just one bit of nostalgia after another!"

Reaching down, he bodily lifted Kibaou up. Placing the hilt of his energy sword on Kibaou's stomach, he spoke the last words Kibaou would ever hear.

"Before the first floor boss, you whined about the beta testers having an advantage over you. Then, I thought you were misinformed, terrified, and angry for being trapped against your will in this game. After the boss fight, you took a chance and turned the entire game against me. Then I thought you were a whiny little bitch, waiting for everything to fall into your lap. Now, I know better." He shoved the hilt of the energy sword to give emphasis to his words. "You're not a player, terrified and clinging to straws. You aren't even a spoiled, lazy brat waiting for the sky to fall into his lap. No, you're just a coward. For that, I pity you."

Kibaou didn't even get to scream as the glowing blade of plasma appeared again, impaling him instantly. For a moment he slid down, victim of the game's artificial gravity. Finally, he burst apart, never to appear again.

**_Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 22. Lumberjack Forest. D+205_**

For the briefest moment after Kibaou's death, Asuna hesitated, fearful of Kirito's actions. Throughout her entire period of time in Aincrad, she'd never seen Kirito fight in such a terrifyingly cruel manner. It was almost as if he was a completely different person. One who took extraordinary pleasure in listening to his victims' pleas for mercy before murdering them in the most painful way possible.

However, Asuna rushed forward, doubts forgotten as soon as she saw Kirito collapse onto his knees, visibly trembling. Placing her hands on his shoulder, Asuna remained silent. What could she say after witnessing such a terrifying display of violence?

"Of all the generations of Spartans, many considered my birth generation, the threes to be failures." Kirito's voice was just above a whisper.

"The Twos were created to be the perfect soldier, indoctrinated and trained for war at incredibly young ages. However, the Twos were incredibly expensive to manufacture. A single soldier's armor alone cost about the same as an entire capital ship. The Fours and Fives on the other hand, were created with economical costs in mind, taken from a body of volunteers and given genetic augmentations far more reliable than those given to the Twos, and only slightly less effective. However, the Threes were an entirely different story."

Kirito laughed bitterly, "My birth generation was specifically directed towards the creation of cheap, effective soldiers. In other words, it was riddled with defects which were considered acceptable due to our temporary designs. The first company of Threes was Alpha Company. They were only in service for nine months before almost all of the 497 candidates were killed. Beta Company lasted even shorter, at a mere three months before they too were sent on a suicide mission. Gamma Company survived slightly longer, but their new augmentations created bouts of chronic psychopathy which had to be continuously suppressed with a monthly drug."

His smile twisted sarcastically. "To give you an idea of how long they lasted on average, the UNSC only produced enough of the counteracting drug to last a single year. There's still a surplus in their stockpiles. As the only member of Delta, I received the same augmentations. The shift to this time period might've physically erased all my augmentations, but my mind is a completely different matter. Every once in a while, when I'm pushed past my mental threshold, this happens."

He gestured at the clearing with a trembling hand. "If you want me to stay away after this, I understand. I'll leave and keep an eye on you from the shadows."

Kirito knew he was rambling, but even he was too shaken by his own actions to care. It terrified him how easily the psychotic killer madness had overtaken him the moment he let his anger get the better of him. He was in a new body damn it! The augmentations should've been erased! However, he clearly realized that the augmentations had left some residual effects. His incredible reaction times attested to that.

Kirito stiffened when Asuna wrapped her arms around him for the second time in three days.

"Didn't I tell you that I'm staying? I've already told you how unwilling I am to lose you again."

Kirito hesitated, "And the random bouts of psychopathy?"

Asuna smiled, "I'll deal with that when it comes up again, but I have the feeling that it won't."

They stayed together for several minutes, motionless, before Asuna raised her head to asked a question.

"Hey, Kirito, do you know who the other Fujikawa's other ancestor is?"

Kirito shifted, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was heading. "I-I don't understand what you're asking.

Asuna laughed slightly, "The person I'm going to marry in the future, do you know his name?"

"Y-yes, why?" Alarm bells were ringing in Kirito's head, telling him to change the subject. However, he just couldn't come up with one fast enough.

"Can you tell me who it is?"

Kirito froze. If it had been at SAO's start, he'd have told her in a heartbeat. The fate of the universe was much more important after all. He still should, given the importance of the universe's fate. However, he simply couldn't. By telling her that he was the one she was asking about, he'd basically be forcing her into a relationship by playing on her sense of duty. At that moment, Kirito realized that somewhere since SAO's launch, he'd started to place Asuna's happiness over his mission.

"Damn the Universe, damn it to hell." He whispered.

"Hmm? What was that?" Kirito could feel Asuna's eyes on him, and the teasing note was obvious.

Kirito took a deep breath, "No, I can't tell you who it is. You're going to have to decide that on your own."

"Huh, that's disappointing," Asuna muttered, before standing up.

Kirito released a breath. Somehow, he had the feeling that he'd just passed a very critical test.

"Well, I suppose it's time to get back to the Black Cats, they must be going nuts by now." Asuna spun around, taking care to hide her smile from Kirito.

Silently, Asuna congratulated herself. She never needed Kirito to tell her who she would grow to love. Why would she need him to? Her feelings were already clear to herself, and Kirito's own actions confirmed it. Why else would he allow her so close to him, when she was destined to be with another?

Internally, Asuna did a small dance of joy. Kirito's answer had done nothing to hide the truth. It only served to tell Asuna about Kirito's own feelings. And she was quite happy with what it told her.

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**A/N: Yay! one of the first chapters to show a measurable change in Kirito and Asuna's team dynamic! *sniffle* Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please review!**


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